Department for Transport

Railways: North of England

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the economic impact of proposals made in the Integrated Rail Plan on (a) Leeds, (b) Bradford, (c) Hull, (d) Sheffield, (e) Doncaster, (f) Liverpool, (g) Manchester, (h) Huddersfield, (i) Wakefield, and (j) Newcastle.

Andrew Stephenson: The Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) was designed to deliver significant economic benefits to the Northern region by enhancing connectivity, improving productivity through the agglomeration of key northern hubs and making the North a more attractive place for busines domestically and internationally. A comprehensive economic appraisal was undertaken by the Department when developing the IRP which included conducting its own analysis as well as using analysis from Transport for the North (TfN) and delivery partners Network Rail and HS2 Ltd, the detail of which is presented in the IRP Technical Annex which was published by the Government on 24 January 2022. More detailed analysis of the wider economic impacts of Northern Powerhouse Rail will be outlined in the programme’s Strategic Outline Business Case.

Transport: Scotland

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on mutual priorities for improving cross-border transport links following the publication of Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 by Transport Scotland.

Trudy Harrison: UK Government Transport Ministers regularly engage with their counterparts in the Scottish Government to discuss matters of shared interest, including improving cross-border transport connectivity. The Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 (STPR2) draft recommendations include improvements to the A75 and A77, routes that were also highlighted in the independent Union Connectivity Review carried out by Sir Peter Hendy and published in November 2021. The UK Government has invited the Scottish Government to work in partnership to consider the recommendations of the Union Connectivity Review and identify solutions which work best for the people of the UK.

Railways: Chester

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when direct rail services between London and Chester will be reinstated.

Wendy Morton: The Department has been working closely with rail operators as they mitigate the impact of COVID-19 related staff absences on rail services. The current temporary train timetables are providing passengers with certainty so they can plan their journeys confidently. The Operator has protected the train path to enable the service to be reintroduced from the May timetable change. The provision of the direct train remains under review in consideration of both demand and operator staff availability. As staffing pressures ease and passenger demand increases, operators will increase rail services accordingly to meet demand.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Highways Agency is working to support efforts to improve air quality on Britain's roads and highways.

Trudy Harrison: National Highways is implementing a programme of measures around the country to improve air quality at specific locations on the Strategic Road Network (SRN). These measures include: traffic management, managing speeds to reduce emissions, working with local authorities (investing £12.5m with authorities in Leeds, Coventry, Kent, Nottingham, Sheffield and Bristol) to accelerate the uptake of zero emission vans, as well as continuously looking at other new technologies and measures that will support their work to reduce NO2 levels on the SRN. National Highways are supporting the Government’s delivery of the UK Nitrogen Dioxide Plan and, in 2021 published update reports on: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work/environment/air-quality-and-noise/air-quality/air-quality-reports/. National Highways also has its own air quality strategy, setting out its approach and activity to deliver cleaner air: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/media/i41jzbar/air_quality_strategy.pdf and has funded a research project on how best to improve air quality on its network: https://assets.highwaysengland.co.uk/Corporate+documents/FINAL+-+HE+Research+Projects+to+Improve+Air+Quality.pdf.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on increasing the roll-out of rapid charging points for electric vehicles in Wales.

Trudy Harrison: Government works closely with the devolved administrations on supporting the transition to zero emission vehicles across the whole of the UK. Regular discussions about rapid chargepoints as well as other measures to support electric vehicles are held on an ongoing basis with the Welsh Government. Officials have been working together to align the upcoming electric vehicle infrastructure strategy from UK government with the approach set out in the Welsh government’s electric vehicle charging strategy for Wales.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on supporting the roll-out of rapid charging points for electric vehicles in rural areas of Wales.

Trudy Harrison: Government works closely with the devolved administrations on supporting the transition to zero emission vehicles across the whole of the UK. Regular discussions about rapid chargepoints as well as other measures to support electric vehicles are held on an ongoing basis with the Welsh Government. Officials have been working together to align the upcoming electric vehicle infrastructure strategy from UK government with the approach set out in the Welsh government’s electric vehicle charging strategy for Wales.

Department for Transport: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many pieces of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation their Department has sponsored in each of the last 10 years.

Andrew Stephenson: Due for example to machinery of Government changes to Departmental structures over the past decade, accurate comparisons between years cannot be made. However, based on the best available data, the number of primary and secondary legislation sponsored by the Department in the last 10 years is as follows: YearPrimary LegislationSecondary Legislation20212207202001332019022620184206201731742016013920151587201401825201321831201211884

Rapid Transit Systems: West Yorkshire

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who his Department consulted on the (a) viability and (b) cost of the proposed mass transit system for Yorkshire.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential economic impact of a Mass Transit System for West Yorkshire on (a) Leeds, (b) Bradford, (c) Wakefield, (d) Huddersfield and (e) West Yorkshire.

Andrew Stephenson: My officials across the department are working with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to develop its mass transit plans.West Yorkshire Combined Authority are expected to submit a Strategic Outline Business Case for mass transit to Government shortly. At the 2021 Spending Review, we also announced £830m for the combined authority to fund local transport investments such as mass transit through the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements.

Railways

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason the Whole Industry Strategic Plan call for evidence states that any responses that focus solely on request for new investments or enhancements will not be considered.

Wendy Morton: We are keen to ensure that responses focus on the long term strategic opportunities for rail to support wider priorities such as Levelling Up and the environment, therefore we are advising respondents to respond to this call for evidence on the basis of outcomes and identify areas where intervention may help meet those goals, rather than suggest specific schemes or interventions. We will continue to consider specific potential enhancement schemes in line with the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline, alongside this call for evidence and, in due course, informed by the Whole Industry Strategic Plan.

Railways: Trade Unions

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what engagement he plans to undertake with trade unions as part of the creation of the Whole Industry Strategic Plan.

Wendy Morton: Trade Unions will be able to engage with the wide and ongoing engagement we are undertaking.

Railways

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Whole Industry Strategic Plan call for evidence, through which processes his Department plans broader engagement with partners and with which organisations his Department will be engaging.

Wendy Morton: My Department has sought views on the question of the whole industry strategic plan for rail in a number of ways, including but not limited to a public call for evidence and meetings in various formats with relevant partners and organisations. As the strategic plan is developed we are committed to continuing transparency and engagement.

Driving Licences: Dual Nationality

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will review the requirement for dual British and French citizens to surrender their original French driving licence when applying for a British driving licence.

Trudy Harrison: The law does not allow a driver to hold both a GB and an EU driving licence at the same time. Any driver holding an EU driving licence must surrender it before a GB licence can be issued. This is an important provision which helps prevent the circumvention of the system of driving licence endorsements and disqualification for road traffic offences. There are no plans to amend this provision.

Road Traffic Offences: Insurance

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to bring forward proposals to increase the penalty for driving without insurance.

Trudy Harrison: Road safety is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland, so I can reply only for Great Britain. The Government takes road safety seriously and driving without insurance is unacceptable behaviour. We always keep the law under review but currently there are no plans to increase the penalty for driving without insurance.

Cars: Noise

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to limit severe car noise disturbance.

Trudy Harrison: The Government takes the impact of traffic noise on health, wellbeing and the natural environment seriously. Vehicles are required to meet strict noise limits before being placed on the market and police have powers to act if they suspect a vehicle is making excessive amounts of noise. On 2 August, the Department published the results of research into enforcement against excessive noise pollution from vehicles using “acoustic cameras”. This research has shown that the technology has the potential to be used for enforcement, but that there are still difficulties in accurately measuring noise from individual vehicles in busier traffic conditions. There is an active research programme to address these challenges and, in the longer term, create new tools for enforcement.

Active Travel England

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his timetable is for Active Travel England being fully operational.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that Active Travel England has a central role in delivering modal shift and intermodal connectivity.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to help ensure that Active Travel England delivers an accessible cycling and walking plan in order that disabled people can participate equally with non-disabled people in active travel.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that Active Travel England is sufficiently funded to significantly change the way people travel.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff working for Active Travel England will be based in York; and whether Active Travel England will have any satellite offices.

Trudy Harrison: Active Travel England will become fully operational later in 2022. The recruitment campaigns for the Chief Executive Officer and National Active Travel Commissioner were launched on 24 January and both should be in post later this year. Active Travel England will help local authorities deliver high-quality walking and cycling infrastructure. Active Travel England will also help local authorities consider issues such as making it easier for people to cycle and walk to public transport hubs. The needs of disabled people will be a central consideration in the work of Active Travel England. An Equality Impact Assessment will underpin the development of the organisation, and is being undertaken in partnership with disability stakeholders. Active Travel England will help deliver high quality, fully accessible cycling and walking infrastructure which works for everyone, and will help local authorities to tackle any barriers which prevent disabled people from using this infrastructure. Active Travel England will be funded from the £2 billion cycling and walking budget announced in Gear Change in July 2020, and will be sufficiently resourced to deliver its functions. It will have its headquarters in York, consistent with the Government’s commitment to level up the country and locate more Civil Service roles outside of London and the South East. Around 20 staff will be based in York, but the organisation will have a nationwide presence with teams based throughout England.

Aviation: Environment Protection

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the environmental impact of a potential increase in empty or almost flights from UK airports.

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of installing a higher slot-use threshold on the aviation sector's recovery from the outbreak of covid-19.

Robert Courts: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on air passenger demand. Following a review of the latest available evidence and consultation with the aviation industry, Ministers have decided that further alleviation from slots rules is necessary to support the aviation industry’s financial position, protect connectivity and reduce the risk that airlines operate environmentally damaging empty or near-empty flights. The rules requiring airlines to use slots in order to retain them were fully suspended for the Summer 2020, Winter 2020/21 and Summer 2021 seasons. The UK’s exit from the EU means that it has been able to take a more tailored approach that reflect the UK’s specific circumstances. As the pandemic has gone on, the Government is now also keen to encourage recovery. In the Winter 2021/22 Season which will last until 27 March 2022 we have set the usage requirement for slots at 50% and gave airlines the option of handing back slot series that they were not intending to use before the season started to allow other airlines to use them. A draft Statutory Instrument setting out arrangements for Summer 2022 was published on 24 January 2022. To reduce the risk of airlines operating environmentally damaging empty or near-empty flights, this legislation includes an enhanced justified non-utilisation provision, meaning that airlines will not be required to operate slots where markets are substantively closed to passenger traffic.

Bus Services: Finance

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much of the £1.4 billion budget allocated for transformation in a letter received on 11 January 2021 from the Department for Transport to Local Transport Authorities is set aside for Zero Emission Buses.

Trudy Harrison: We have announced £525 million to deliver zero emission buses over this Parliament. As set out in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021 £355 million of new funding has been made available for zero emission buses. £150 million of this funding has been made available for 2021-22 which the Department intends to allocate this funding to support to the Zero Emission Bus Region Areas (ZEBRA) scheme, taking the total funding available for the scheme to up to £270 million in the financial year 2021 to 2022. The Department will provide further details on how the remaining £205 million of new funding will be used in due course. In addition, the Department has provided £50 million funding for the Coventry All Electric Bus City.

Bus Services

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he publish the (a) operators, (b) services and (c) number of passengers affected in each local area that have served the Traffic Commissioner's Office with an intention to change or cancel a bus service in each of the last six months.

Trudy Harrison: The Government recognises the vital importance of bus services to local economies and communities across the country. We have provided over £1.5bn to maintain essential local bus services outside London since March 2020, ensuring that people can continue to get to work, school, and shops safely and easily. All local bus services in Great Britain (outside of London and those which operate wholly within Hertfordshire) are required to be registered with the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain. The details of all operators who have provided notice of their intention to register, vary or cancel local bus services are published, in accordance with Regulations, in the document ‘Notices and Proceedings’ for the relevant traffic area.  In addition to the statutory publication, the Traffic Commissioners for Great Britain publish details of all local services and variations weekly at: Traffic Commissioners: local bus service registration - data.gov.uk The Traffic Commissioners also publish an annual report which shows the number of new, varied, and cancelled local bus services by area in table 13 - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/traffic-commissioners-annual-reports There is no requirement for an operator to provide details of the number of passengers carried on a particular service.

Motorcycles: Delivery Services

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 7 July 2020 to Question 65974 on Motor Vehicles: Delivery Services, whether officials in his Department have had discussions with representatives of food delivery companies on the use of motorcycle and moped-based delivery drivers, including inappropriate use of (a) cycle paths, (b) barriers and (c) cycle boxes at road junctions intended for use by cyclists only.

Trudy Harrison: The Department has not had any discussions with food delivery companies on the use of motorcycle and moped-based delivery drivers. Employers have a duty to manage the risks of their work activities, and employees have a responsibility to drive safely and with consideration towards other road users. Motorcycle and moped riders, like other road users, are required to comply with road traffic law and may be fined, given penalty points on their licence or disqualified from driving if they disobey the legal requirements. If they do not adopt a responsible attitude or if their use of the highway creates an unsafe environment or causes nuisance, they may be committing a number of offences.

Bus Services: Finance

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total funding bids submitted by Local Transport Authorities to the Department for Transport for bus service improvement plans amounted to.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish total funding bid from each local transport authority for Bus Service Improvement Plans.

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the funding allocation for each local transport authority for bus service improvement plans will be published by his Department.

Trudy Harrison: The National Bus Strategy asked that all English Local Transport Authorities (LTA's) outside London publish Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) by 31 October 2021. We will announce details of how the funding will be allocated in due course.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Bounce Back Loan Scheme

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of fake companies that have obtained coronavirus Bounce Back Loans as part of the Coronavirus Bounce Back Loan scheme since that scheme was launched.

Paul Scully: This Government responded to the pandemic with over £400 billion in support for business and British jobs. Thanks to the action we took we’re now seeing a thriving jobs market with record numbers in work and our economy growing faster than many expected. I note at the time the Government announced its support package many, including the Labour Party, were calling for the Government to lower protections.  Our latest estimate is contained in the Department’s 2020-21 Annual Report.

Energy Company Obligation

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of his Department’s proposal to amend or end the Energy Company Obligation on (a) fuel poor households and (b) the UK’s climate obligations.

Greg Hands: The Government has committed to extending the Energy Company Obligation from 2022 to 2026. The consultation highlighted how this will help an extra 305,000 families with green measures such as insulation, with average energy savings of around £300 for households benefitting from upgrades. The policy would achieve carbon savings of 12.1 MtCO2e over the lifetime of the policy (2022- 2067).

Department of Health and Social Care

Transplant Surgery: Coronavirus

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of the level of covid-19 hospitalisations on NHS transplant services as of 26 January 2022.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Care Homes: Closures

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of residential care homes that have closed in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years.

Gillian Keegan: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Greater London

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2022 to Question 108519 on Coronavirus: Greater London, how many patients identified through national databases living in the (a) E17, (b) E11, (c) E10, (d) E4 and (e) E5 postcodes have been sent a letter confirming their eligibility for new covid-19 treatments as of 26 January 2022.

Maggie Throup: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Integrated Care Boards: Pay

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the agreed salary range is for chairs of integrated care systems.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the agreed salary for the Chair of the Humber, Coast and Vale Integrated Care System is.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the agreed salary for the Chief Executive of the North West London Integrated Care System is.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the agreed salary for the Chief Executive of the North Central London Partners in healthcare Integrated Care System is.

Edward Argar: Pay bands for chairs of integrated care systems (ICS) are categorised from A to D, depending upon the weighted population of the ICS area. This weighting includes factors such as complexity, population health and demographics. The following table shows the pay ranges for each band, with base pay ranges working between two and a half days and three days.   Base Pay BandMinimum Value £Mid-point Value £Maximum Value £A55,00060,00065,000B60,00065,00070,000C65,00070,00075,000D70,00075,00080,000 Note: It is required that chairs on the highest pay point work at least three days per week. The Humber, Coast and Vale ICS is in band C. NHS England and NHS Improvement can approve band A salaries for chief executives of between £175,000 and £197,500, band B salaries of between £190,000 to £212,500, band C salaries of between £220,000 and £245,000 and band D salaries of between £250,000 and £275,000. In exceptional cases, such as where an area has multiple significant health and organisational challenges, NHS England and NHS Improvement can seek ministerial approval for higher salaries. The North West London ICS is in band D and the North Central London Partners in health and care ICS is in band C.

Integrated Care Systems: Managers

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the agreed salary range for chief executives of integrated care systems.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the agreed salary for the chief executive of the Humber Coast and Vale integrated care system.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the agreed salary for the chief executive of the North East and North Cumbria integrated care system.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the agreed salary for the chief executive of the South Yorkshire integrated care system.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the agreed salary for the chief executive of the West Yorkshire integrated care system.

Edward Argar: Integrated care systems (ICSs) are categorised from A to D, depending on their weighted population determined by factors including complexity, population health and demographics. For those ICSs in band A, NHS England and NHS Improvement can approve chief executive salaries of between £175,000 and £197,500. For band B, salaries of between £190,000 to £212,500 can be approved, with salaries of between £220,000 and £245,000 for band C and between £250,000 and £275,000 for band D. In exceptional cases, such as where an area has multiple significant health and organisational challenges, NHS England and NHS Improvement can seek ministerial approval for higher salaries. Most chief executives in ICSs are expected to be in bands A and B. The following table shows the bands for the ICSs requested.ICSBandHumber Coast and ValeCNorth East and North CumbriaDSouth YorkshireCWest Yorkshire and HarrogateD

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Chris Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2022 to Question 96910 on National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, how many oncology technical appraisals have been rescheduled in the last six months directly as a result of NICE operational challenges; and what the average time taken has been to reschedule those appraisals.

Edward Argar: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has rescheduled one appraisal of an oncology technology in the last six months for operational reasons. NICE’s appraisal of pembrolizumab in combination with chemotherapy for neoadjuvant treatment of triple negative breast cancer has been delayed by approximately three months due to the volume of topics in its work programme. NICE’s final guidance is expected to be published in November 2022.

Muscular Dystrophy: Research

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has allocated to research into treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (a) in each of the last and (b) for the next five years.

Edward Argar: The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). In the past five financial years, the NIHR has not awarded new programme funding for specific research projects relating to the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). However, the NIHR has supported delivery of 53 studies relating to treatment of DMD via its Clinical Research Network (CRN). The CRN enables high-quality health and care research in England by providing additional staff, facilities, equipment and support services so that research is not subsidised with funding that has been provided for health and care treatments and service. The NIHR does not usually ring-fence funds for particular topics therefore funding for future years is not available. Awards are made in open competition on the basis of the importance of topics to patients, and heath and care services, value for money, and scientific quality judged through peer review.

Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership and Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership: Pay

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2022 to Questions 108488 to 108505, what the salary range is for the (a) CEO and (b) Chair of each integrated care system referred to in those questions.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Protective Clothing

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to his Answer of 10 January 2022 to Question 97125 on Coronavirus: Protective Clothing, how much of the total cost for items of personal protective equipment that were not fit for use was paid to companies which secured contracts via the high priority lane.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Screening

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of covid-19 PCR tests were marked as missing in December 2021.

Maggie Throup: The Department does not hold data in the format requested.

Coronavirus: Probiotics

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to a recent research paper entitled Probiotic improves symptomatic and viral clearance in covid-19 outpatients: a randomized, quadruple-blinded, placebo-controlled trial, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of that research that probiotics improve symptomatic and viral clearance in covid-19 outpatients.

Maggie Throup: No formal assessment has been made. However, the Therapeutics Taskforce is monitoring data from clinical trials taking place worldwide to identify safe and effective treatments for COVID-19. The Taskforce works closely with RAPID C-19, a multi-agency group from across the health system, to review and evaluate evidence on the effectiveness of promising COVID-19 treatments when clinical trial data becomes available.

Immunosuppression: Coronavirus

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a policy of pre-exposure protection using new and emerging monoclonal antibody and antiviral treatments for immunosuppressed people who remain vulnerable to covid-19 despite receiving a vaccination.

Maggie Throup: Immunocompromised individuals are a priority cohort for research into therapeutic and prophylaxis treatments, such as monoclonal antibody therapies and repurposed compounds.  The RAPID C-19 collaboration has enabled active multi-agency oversight of national and international trial evidence as it emerges for COVID-19 therapies, both in potential treatment and prophylactic indications. Where material evidence is identified, this has enabled the rapid formation and implementation of United Kingdom-wide clinical access policies. The RAPID C-19 collaboration actively reviews all promising compounds. To date, the evidence has most strongly supported treatment use, but the evidence around prophylactic use will continue to be actively reviewed.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the geographic variation in covid-19 vaccine uptake among 12-16 year olds.

Maggie Throup: We have made no specific assessment. However, the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement regularly monitor data at national and regional level to observe trends and analyse uptake rates, including by age.

Coronavirus: Screening

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of rapid covid-19 lateral flow device test results that have been registered with NHS Test and Trace in (a) July, (b) August, (c) September and (d) October 2021.

Maggie Throup: Data on the proportion of lateral flow device (LFD) test results registered is not held. We are currently conducting research on behaviours relating to testing, including insights into the proportion of people who register LFD test results. We expect to publish this research later in the year.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many housebound patients are awaiting a covid-19 booster vaccination; and what steps he plans to take to help ensure that housebound patients who are seeking a booster jab will receive a home visit for inoculation.

Maggie Throup: This information is not held centrally as data on the number of housebound patients is managed at a local level and requires access to detailed patient information. General practitioners and community teams determine the best approach to vaccination, based on their knowledge of the patient and circumstances. Some patients may be able to attend Primary Care Network (PCN) designated sites with assistance and discussions should be held with the family and/or carer to facilitate this.For those patients who are completely housebound and unable to travel to a PCN designated site with assistance, vaccinations will be delivered via roving units directly to an individual’s home. National Health Service regions, PCNs and community pharmacy-led local vaccination services are monitoring progress and identifying whether further interventions are required. A standard operating procedure on managing roving units has been provided to local health teams to support the provision of COVID-19 vaccinations to people who are housebound.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government's contract for covid-19 vaccines with Pfizer includes an Investor State Dispute Settlement clause.

Maggie Throup: The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has advised that it is unable to disclose the details of some clauses of contracts between the Government and vaccine manufacturers as this information is commercially sensitive.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Duncan Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2021 to Question 89686 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, when 16-17 year olds with chronic asthma in group 6 will be (a) eligible and (b) prioritised for a covid-19 booster vaccination; and whether he will use the flu jab list as a basis for efficiently identifying those who need to be prioritised for any future covid-19 booster vaccinations.

Maggie Throup: The Government accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that those aged 16 to 49 years old with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of severe COVID-19 should be offered a booster vaccine. This included individuals with 'poorly controlled asthma', defined as:- Receiving two or more courses of oral corticosteroids in the preceding 24 months;- Being on maintenance oral corticosteroids; and- Having one or more hospital admission(s) for asthma in the preceding 24 months.The flu clinical risk groups were initially considered as a potential way to identify and prioritise individuals at risk of COVID-19. However, when evaluating the data, the JCVI found that, although there was some overlap between the influenza clinical risk groups and those at high risk of severe COVID-19, there were some differences. At this stage no decision has been made about who will be prioritised for any for any future booster vaccinations, and whether the flu clinical risk groups will be used as part of the considerations.

Coronavirus: Screening

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many covid-19 lateral flow testing kits have been provided to pharmacies in (a) Lambeth and (b) Southwark; and what assessment he has made of the current availability of those kits to residents.

Maggie Throup: The information requested is not currently available. In January 2022, we have increased procurement of and delivery capacity for lateral flow device tests. We expect to have distributed 90 million tests a week in the United Kingdom through all channels. We now have the capacity to distribute up to 12 million tests a week in England through the pharmacy programme.

Public Health: Finance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is holding discussions with (a) the Local Government Association and (b) the Association of Directors of Public Health on the impact on planning and delivering frontline public health services of the delay in notifying local authorities of their public health grant allocations for 2022-23; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Caulfield: We have had no specific discussions. Local authority commissioned public health services in England are funded through the ring-fenced Public Health Grant. In 2021/22, the Grant was £3.324 billion - a rise of 1% in cash terms from 2020/21. The Spending Review in 2021 confirmed that the Grant will be maintained in real terms over the next three years, based on inflation forecasts. This will increase the cash value of the Grant to £3.417 billion, £3.490 billion, £3.553 billion respectively over the next three years.

Health Services: Older People

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of deferring checks for the early warning signs of strokes, cancers, diabetes and other illnesses for people aged over 75 on the level of long-term demand on hospitals in the NHS in England.

Maria Caulfield: Following the emergence of the Omicron variant, measures were announced to increase general practice capacity and financial support to deliver an expanded vaccine programme. This includes allowing general practices to defer routine annual health checks for patients aged 75 years old and over until April 2022, where clinically appropriate. However, we continue to encourage people to come forward if they feel unwell and have any symptoms associated with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other conditions.

Dental Services: Children

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental practices offering NHS orthodontic treatment to under 18s are there as of 25 January 2022; and what comparative assessment she has made of that figure with the equivalent for 2010.

Maria Caulfield: The information is not held in the format requested and therefore no assessment has been made.

Dental Services: Children

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for people who are under 18 years of age for orthodontic treatment following a referral as of 25 January 2022.

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many referrals to orthodontic treatment for people who were under 18 years of age at the time of their referral are still pending three or more years following their referral.

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many referrals to orthodontic treatment for people who were under 18 years of age at the time of their referral are pending between two and three years following their referral.

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many orthodontic treatment referrals for people who were under 18 years of age at the time of their referral are pending between one and two years following their referral.

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number patients who turned 18 while waiting to receive orthodontic treatment and who subsequently paid for that service in each of the last five years.

Maria Caulfield: The information requested is not held centrally.

Health Promotion Taskforce

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Health Promotion Taskforce will meet next.

Maria Caulfield: The next meeting of the Taskforce will take place shortly.

Pregnancy: Mental Health Services

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Minister in his Department has responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the £100 million for parent and infant mental health services, announced in the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021.

Maria Caulfield: I am the Minister responsible for the implementation of the Department’s elements of the Start for Life and family help services. This includes the £100 million package for perinatal mental health.

PHE Reproductive Health, Sexual Health and HIV Innovation Fund

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to publish a report into the effectiveness of the HIV Innovation Fund; and what the timetable for that publication is.

Maria Caulfield: The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has commissioned an independent evaluation of the Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV Innovation fund. This work is due to be completed by the end of March 2022 and the findings will be made available in spring 2022.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Mr Clive Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the rollout of fourth doses of the covid-19 vaccine for immunocompromised people will start; and whether people will be able to use receipt of a letter from NHS England confirming their immunocompromised status as proof of the need for a fourth dose at vaccination centres.

Maggie Throup: Individuals who are severely immunosuppressed can currently access a booster or fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine if they have already completed their initial, three dose vaccination schedule at least three months ago. A general practitioner (GP) or hospital specialist will invite those eligible for this dose. Those who have received a letter from their GP or hospital specialist can also attend a walk-in vaccination site. Any patient who has not yet been invited but may be eligible for a fourth dose should contact their consultant or GP.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Chris Loder: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the capacity of the booster vaccination programme in West Dorset.

Maggie Throup: In Dorset, larger vaccination centres extended their opening hours to 8am to 8pm, including at Vespasian House in Dorchester and walk-in appointments have been available.

Electromagnetic Fields: Health Hazards

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of whether some individuals are more susceptible to electromagnetic fields than others; and what research that assessment is based on.

Maggie Throup: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) advises that electromagnetic fields below recommended guideline levels do not cause symptoms and cannot be detected by people, even those who consider themselves more susceptible to electromagnetic fields. This advice is based on reviews of scientific evidence, including a review undertaken by the independent expert Advisory Group on Non-ionising Radiation in April 2012. The UKHSA will continue to monitor evidence as it emerges.

5G: Health Hazards

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of any potential health risks arising from the roll-out of 5G; and if he will place a copy of the latest research in the Library.

Maggie Throup: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) provides advice on potential health risks and protection from exposure to the radio waves from telecommunications systems, including those providing 5G services. Its latest advice based on the available research is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/5g-technologies-radio-waves-and-health/5g-technologies-radio-waves-and-healthBased on an assessment of the evidence, the UKHSA has concluded it is possible that there may be a small increase in overall exposure to radio waves when 5G is added to an existing network or in a new area. However, the overall exposure is expected to remain low relative to international guidelines on limiting exposure and, as such, there should be no consequences for public health. The UKHSA continues to review the evidence applicable to 5G and other radio technologies and will update its advice as necessary.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help increase the number of covid-19 walk-in centres in Bristol aimed at vaccinating 12 to 15 year olds.

Maggie Throup: In Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG), the School Age Immunisation Service (SAIS) visited every secondary school in the area to provide a first dose COVID-19 vaccination clinic for 12 to 15 year olds. These clinics concluded in December 2021. Parents or carers can now book an appointment at a dedicated general practitioner or vaccination clinic using the online National Booking Service or via 119. The large-scale centre at the University of the West of England Bristol offers walk-in vaccinations for 12 to 15 year olds seven days a week.Local clinics are planned in schools in areas where uptake in this age group is low. These clinics will be promoted through schools and local authorities, with parents or carers able to make an appointment using a local booking system. BNSSG also offers walk-in family clinics, some of which offer vaccinations for 12 to 15 year olds alongside adult vaccinations. A number of these may be based in schools out of school hours or in a clinic in very close proximity to a cluster of schools.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Nick Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of eligible adults have had the covid-19 booster vaccination in (a) England, (b) West Sussex and (c) Bognor Regis and Littlehampton.

Maggie Throup: The following table shows the number and proportion of eligible adults aged 18 years old and over who have received a third or booster dose in the areas requested, as at 16 January 2022. England30,383,25981%West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group537,59087%Bognor Regis and Littlehampton65,11986%

Mental Health Services: Berkshire

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care,  what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the waiting times for adult mental health referrals through The Gateway within Berkshire.

Gillian Keegan: We have made no such assessment. NHS England and NHS Improvement have consulted on the potential to introduce five new waiting time standards, in addition to the three existing waiting time standards, as part of the clinically-led review of National Health Service access standards. The consultation closed on 1 September 2021 and NHS England and NHS Improvement expect to publish the response to the consultation in due course. We are also providing an additional £500 million in 2021/22 to address waiting times for mental health services. Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we have made additional investment in mental health services to enable a further two million people in England to access NHS-funded mental health support by 2023/24.

Care Workers: Living Wage

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of requiring care workers to receive the living wage.

Gillian Keegan: All care workers aged 23 years old and over are entitled to the National Living Wage. An increase in the rate of the National Living Wage will mean many of the lowest paid care workers will benefit from a 6.6% pay rise effective from 1 April 2022.

Alcoholic Drinks: Consumption

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle the increase in alcohol consumption during the covid-19 outbreak.

Gillian Keegan: In England, the Department continues to promote the United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ recommendations of not regularly exceeding 14 units a week through online platforms, local authorities’ public health duties and encouraging alcoholic drink producers to reflect the guidelines on labelling. The Department is also working with industry to create more consumer choice and availability in the low and no alcohol sector to moderate drinking habits within the guidelines.The Better Health and One You adult health campaigns have provided information and advice to help adults consume less alcohol during the pandemic. Better Health continues to offer tips and online tools to help people drink less including the Drinks Tracker app, ‘How Are You’ health quiz, Better Health website and email programme. We also provide the Drinkline service and webchat.

PHE Reproductive Health, Sexual Health and HIV Innovation Fund

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timetable is for making a decision on 2022-23 funding for the HIV Innovation Fund.

Gillian Keegan: The Department is awaiting the findings from the evaluation of the Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV Innovation Fund to inform its decision on the future of the Fund. The evaluation is due for completion at the end of March 2022. A decision will be made in spring 2022.

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Education regarding the need for a national strategy to tackle foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the prevalence of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder among care experienced people; and what steps he is taking in response to that matter.

Gillian Keegan: We have regular discussions with the Department for Education on a range of issues. The Office of Health Improvement and Disparities, NHS England and local commissioners continue to raise awareness and education on the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant.No specific assessment has been made on the prevalence of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) among care experienced people. However, we have asked National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to produce a Quality Standard in England for FASD to improve the diagnosis and care of those affected.In 2020/21, the Government funded five voluntary organisations to support grassroots initiatives to prevent cases of FASD, raise awareness among professionals and help improve support for those living with its consequences. The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) provides families whose children have left care through adoption or special guardianship with access to funding for a specialist assessment and therapeutic support.  An ASF specialist assessment may assess FASD as part of a wider assessment of a child’s needs. The ASF does not fund standalone FASD assessments.

Alcoholic Drinks: Children and Young People

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on alcohol consumption by children and young people.

Gillian Keegan: No assessment has yet been made as data on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol consumption by children and young people is not currently available. NHS Digital’s Smoking, Drinking and Drugs among Young People Survey provides information on drinking behaviours and attitudes among children aged 11 to 15 years old. The last survey was carried out in 2018. Field work for the 2021 survey began in autumn 2021.

Veterans: Electronic Government

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help roll out the Veteran Aware accreditation to healthcare providers in (a) Leicestershire and (b) Bosworth.

Gillian Keegan: There are two accreditation schemes in operation - the Veterans Healthcare Covenant Alliance (VCHA) and the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Veteran Friendly Practice scheme.The University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust are accredited under the VCHA scheme and will undergo re-accreditation during 2022. The VCHA are also working with East Midlands Ambulance NHS Trust on accreditation.There are currently 15 general practitioner (GP) practices accredited in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) area. This represents 11.2% of the open GP practices in the STP area. Seven of these are in the NHS West Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Group area, serving the Bosworth area.In May 2021 the Royal College of General Practitioners hosted an online training event for the East and Central region and provides new materials for practices. The Royal College is currently planning to deliver geographically targeted engagement to increase accreditations.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made progress on the (a) development and (b) implementation of a new alcohol strategy.

Gillian Keegan: There are no current plans for an alcohol strategy. We are addressing alcohol-related harms through commitments in the prevention green paper, the NHS Long Term Plan, improvements to the substance misuse treatment system through the Drugs Strategy, funding to support children of alcohol dependent parents and action to reduce alcohol-related crime. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is also tackling harms associated with addictions, including alcohol.

Mental Health: Young People

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing mental health research relating to the impact of social media on young people.

Gillian Keegan: The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) supports mental health research through various funding streams. In 2020/21, the NIHR spent £109.5 million on mental health research. However, it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. The NIHR’s funding is available through open competition for mental health research and we encourage researchers to submit applications in this area.

Health Promotion Taskforce: Dementia

Anthony Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what role the Health Promotion Taskforce will have in the development of the forthcoming strategy for dementia in England.

Anthony Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which modifiable risk factors the Health Promotion Taskforce will focus on in the development of the forthcoming strategy for dementia in England.

Gillian Keegan: The Department will set out our future plans on dementia for England later this year. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is contributing to the development of the new strategy, which will include a focus on prevention and risk reduction. The concept of brain health in encouraging people to reduce their dementia risk is also being explored. Officials are engaging with a range of stakeholders on the new strategy including members of the Dementia Programme Board and other Government departments.

Care Homes: Visits

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of care home visiting guidance in place at 25 January 2021; and whether he plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of easing visiting restrictions as the Government ends Plan B restrictions.

Gillian Keegan: The Department regularly reviews and assesses the effectiveness of COVID-19 guidance for care homes. We engage with partners, including the Care Quality Commission, representative organisations and care providers, to understand the impact and effectiveness of care home visiting guidance and inform any changes. From 31 January 2022, there will be no limit on the number of visitors each resident can have and no additional testing or isolation for those visitors who go on a normal visit outside of the home. We will continue to ask care home residents to isolate following high-risk visits out for a maximum of 10 days rather than 14 days.

Skin Diseases: Mental Health Services

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has a dedicated allocation of mental health funding for skin condition patients; and what steps his Department is taking to support the emotional and physical wellbeing of people with skin conditions.

Gillian Keegan: There is no dedicated allocation of mental health funding for skin condition patients. Such patients can be referred by their general practitioner or other health professional to the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme and can also self-refer. All clinical commissioning groups are expected to commission IAPT services integrated into physical healthcare pathways.We are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24 to enable an extra two million people in England to access National Health Service-funded mental health support, including those with skin conditions. In addition, we have published the Mental Health Recovery Action Plan, supported by an additional £500 million in 2021/22 to expand talking and psychological therapies and other adult mental health services.

Eating Disorders: Children

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of hospital admissions of children with eating disorders.

Gillian Keegan: The attached table shows the trend of levels of hospital admissions of children aged 0 to 17 years old with eating disorders in 2019/20 and 2020/21.We are investing an extra £79 million in 2021/22 to expand children’s mental health services, including enabling 2,000 more children and young people to access eating disorder services. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have announced a further £40 million in 2021/22 to address the impact of COVID-19 on children and young people’s mental health, including for eating disorders. Of this, £10 million capital funding is being used to provide extra beds at units which provide care for young people with the most complex needs, including eating disorders.PQ97006 Data (xlsx, 26.2KB)

Care Homes: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of covid-19 on residents in care homes.

Gillian Keegan: While no formal assessment has been made, we have always sought to balance the risk of COVID-19 infection in care homes against human rights and wellbeing considerations for residents.

Dementia: Mental Health Services

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve mental health services for dementia patients.

Gillian Keegan: Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we committed to investing at least an additional £2.3 billion a year into mental health services by 2023/24. This will allow 380,000 more adults and older adults accessing mental health care, including through improving access to psychological therapies (IAPT) services. The NHS Mental Health Implementation Plan 2019/20 – 2023/24 sets out that all local areas will be expected to address inequalities in IAPT access for older people. To support this, areas must ensure that IAPT services meet the needs of older carers and people living with dementia and/or frailty, including those living in care homes. In March 2021, the Mental Health Recovery Action Plan committed an additional £500 million to ensure the right support is in place in 2021/22. This includes £110 million to expand adult mental health services, including IAPT and £17 million for the recovery of the dementia diagnosis rate and tackling the backlog of appointments.

Neuromuscular Disorders: Health Services

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with NHS England to ensure patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurological conditions are offered support to self-manage their conditions while on NHS waiting lists.

Gillian Keegan: NHS England has issued guidance for all patients on waiting lists, including those with multiple sclerosis and other neurological conditions, setting out that as part of their clinical review, patients should have the opportunity to discuss the management of their condition. The guidance is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/supported-self-management-summary-guide.pdfThe guidance includes a range of additional resources to support people to self-manage their health conditions. It complements existing work to encourage supported self-management, where clinically appropriate and is part of the NHS Long Term Plan’s commitment to make personalised care normal practice.A range of guides have been produced to support healthcare professionals and organisations. The majority of Primary Care Networks in England employ social prescribing link workers, health coaches and care coordinators. These staff provide direct non-clinical support and a range of options in their local community. In addition, the NHS@home programme aims to maximise the use of technology for better self-management of health and care at home.

Coronavirus: Israel

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions (a) he and (b) Ministers have had with their Israeli counterparts on tackling covid-19.

Gillian Keegan: We have had no recent discussions.

Migraines: Health Services

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2021 to Question 69076, what assessment he has made of the level of uptake of the RightCare Headache and Migraines Toolkit by local clinical commissioning groups; and if he will make a statement.

Gillian Keegan: No specific assessment has been made. The RightCare Headache and Migraines Toolkit is a downloadable resource which provides optional guidance for clinical commissioning groups.

Health Services: Veterans

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress the Government has made on making NHS services more accessible for veterans.

Gillian Keegan: We are supporting The Royal College of General Practitioners’ accreditation programme, to increase the accessibility to veteran specialist care in general practitioner (GP) practices. To date, there are over 1,000 veteran friendly accredited GP practices.The Government has put in place initiatives to help with better identification of veterans through the healthcare system. An additional £94 million has been released by the Ministry of Defence for Project CORTISONE to provide the digital interface between Defence Medical Services and the National Health Service, ensuring safe and smooth transition of medical records.The Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance seeks to improve the care the armed forces community receive from the NHS. Funding has recently been secured to appoint full-time regional leads for the seven regions and the Alliance has now accredited over 101 NHS trusts. On 19 January, the Government launched the veteran’s strategy action plan. This includes a commitment of an additional £18 million over the next three years for veteran’s health services such as Op COURAGE.

Mental Health: Community Development

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to provide support to communities for treating stress and anxiety in their local areas.

Gillian Keegan: The total Public Health Grant to local authorities for 2021/22 is £3.324 billion. The Grant is ring-fenced for use on public health functions, such as public mental health which may include stress and anxiety. As part of the Mental Health Recovery Action Plan, we are investing £15 million in local authority areas in the most deprived parts of the country for prevention and early intervention services for those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Support is also available online through Every Mind Matters for conditions such as stress and anxiety. People can also self-refer to National Health Service talking and psychological therapies provided through local Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.

Mental Health: Local Government

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what additional support he is providing to local authority areas where there are high levels of personal anxiety and stress.

Gillian Keegan: The total Public Health Grant to local authorities for 2021/22 is £3.324 billion. The Grant is ring-fenced for use on public health functions, such as public mental health which may include stress and anxiety. As part of the Mental Health Recovery Action Plan, we are investing £15 million in local authority areas in the most deprived parts of the country for prevention and early intervention services for those most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Support is also available online through Every Mind Matters for conditions such as stress and anxiety. People can also self-refer to National Health Service talking and psychological therapies provided through local Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.

Coronavirus: Hospitals

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the estimated cost is of setting up the eight Nightingale Hubs for covid-19 patients.

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the criterion used for the Government's decision to stand down the eight Nightingale Hubs for covid-19 patients.

Edward Argar: The overall cost to date of establishing the eight Nightingale hubs is £10,672,088.32.No decision has been made to stand down the Nightingale hubs. This is being monitored daily by the National Health Service and the capacity will be stood down as and when the situation improves.

Members: Correspondence

Robert Largan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the enquiry from the hon. Member for High Peak of 23 September 2021, referenced RL26984.

Edward Argar: We replied to the hon. Member on 28 January 2022.

Radiotherapy: Termination of Employment

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of radiotherapy staff who have either (a) retired or (b) resigned within the last 12 months.

Edward Argar: NHS Digital collects Hospital and Community Health Services workforce statistics. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care or in general practitioner surgeries, local authorities or other providers. Data on the National Health Service workforce is drawn from the Electronic Staff Record, the human resources and payroll system for the NHS.During the period June 2020 to June 2021, 331 staff working in the care setting of therapeutic radiology left the NHS, of which 34 people retired and 110 people resigned. In the medical specialty of clinical oncology 166 people left the NHS, of which 14 people retired and 26 people resigned. Data on those working in diagnostic radiography is not collected.

Health Professions: Labour Turnover

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of (a) doctor and (b) nurse retention rates in the NHS in each of the last three years.

Edward Argar: NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics, including information on staff turnover. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), but not staff working in primary care, local authorities or other providers.The following table shows the annual number of HCHS doctors, excluding doctors in training, who have left the National Health Service staff group, the leaver rate, and the stability index as at September in each year from 2018. The Stability Index is the percentage of staff at the start of the period that do not leave the specified group. Leavers are based on headcount and show people leaving active service, such as parental leave or a career break. LeaversLeaver RateStability IndexSeptember 2018 to September 20194,3406.7%93.1%September 2019 to September 20204,1906.3%93.6%September 2020 to September 20214,3506.3%93.6% Source: NHS Digital Workforce StatisticsThe following table shows the annual number of nurses who have left the NHS staff group, the leaver rate and the stability index as at September in each year from 2018. LeaversLeaver RateStability IndexSeptember 2018 to September 201931,62810.1%89.8%September 2019 to September 202029,2019.0%90.8%September 2020 to September 202133,3549.9%89.9% Source: NHS Digital Workforce Statistics

Surgery

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on developing surgical hubs across England; and where each of those hubs will be based.

Edward Argar: We have announced an additional £1.5 billion for elective recovery, which includes funding for developing more surgical hubs. There are currently 43 surgical hubs operational in England. Following successful pilots in London, the National Health Service are now developing surgical hubs across the country. In collaboration with NHS England and NHS Improvement, the Getting It Right First Time programme is providing guidance to systems and regions on how to use surgical hubs effectively, standardise pathways and adopt best surgical practice.The locations of future surgical hubs are not yet confirmed. However systems and regions will submit bids to NHS England and NHS Improvement which will determine where the hubs will be based. The existing hubs are located at following trusts, with some locations hosting more than one hub:- The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust;- Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (two);- The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust;- University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;- Barts Health NHS Trust (two);- Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust;- Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust;- Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;- Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust;- London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust;- Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust;- Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust;- Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust;- Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust;- Croydon Health Services NHS Trust;- Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust;- St Georges University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;- Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust;- South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust;- University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust;- University Hospitals Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (three);- University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust;- Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust;- Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust;- York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;- North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust (two);- Southport and Ormskirk Hospitals NHS Trust;- Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;- St Helen’s and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust;- Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust;- Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust;- Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust;- Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust;- Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust;- University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust;- East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust;- University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust; and- Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust.

Coronavirus: Hospital Beds

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of beds in NHS England hospitals are currently occupied by patients admitted for treatment of covid 19.

Edward Argar: As of 18 January 2022, 7,605 beds in English National Health Service hospitals were occupied by patients being treated primarily for COVID-19.

Health Professions: Labour Turnover

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to retain healthcare professionals within the NHS.

Edward Argar: The NHS Retention Programme is working to understand why staff leave and targeting interventions to support staff. The National Health Service has established a People Recovery Task Force to ensure all staff are safe and supported as services recover from the impact of the pandemic. Health and wellbeing resources for staff include the implementation of 40 mental health hubs, a dedicated helpline and text service, support for flexible working and training for managers to hold wellbeing conversations with staff.

Ambulance Services: Emergency Calls

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff have been employed to answer emergency calls to ambulance services (a) nationally (b) at each regional hub in each of the last 5 years; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Argar: The Department does not hold the information requested.

Department of Health and Social Care and NHS: Staff

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total number of whole time equivalent employees is, including payroll and non-payroll staff, in (a) the Department of Health and Social Care core department, (b) NHS England, (c) Monitor, as part of NHS Improvement and (d) the NHS Trust Development Authority, as part of NHS Improvement at (i) January 2020, (ii) January 2021 and (iii) August 2021.

Edward Argar: The information requested is shown in the following table.OrganisationJanuary 2020January 2021August 2021Department of Health and Social Care1,9333,668.84,863.6NHS England5,753.47,157.27,977.6Monitor146.5115.1102.4NHS Trust Development Authority1,525.61,518.51,530.9 Note: Increases in whole time equivalent staff in this time period are due to the response to COVID-19, deployment of the vaccine programme and legacy off-payroll workers moving onto payroll.

Department of Health and Social Care: Disclosure of Information

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many non-disclosure agreements his Department has signed with (a) companies and (b) trade associations from the 1 January 2021 to the 31 December 2021, inclusive.

Edward Argar: Information on the number of non-disclosure agreements is not collated centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Coronavirus: Screening

Sir Alan Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government has plans to tackle the refusal by some covid-19 testing companies to provide refunds in the event that problems arise with testing kits.

Maggie Throup: Those purchasing tests from private providers have access to the full range of consumer rights and as individuals are contracting a private service, we advise customers to report any issues directly to the test provider. If the issue cannot be resolved, the consumer should contact their local Citizens Advice Bureau.We monitor issues raised by the public, data submitted by providers and reports from regulatory and oversight bodies on providers.  we become aware that a provider is not meeting the required minimum standards or that their activities may be putting public safety at risk, we will ask them to take remedial action. We may also remove their listing from GOV.UK.  In certain circumstances, we will support regulatory bodies undertaking further investigation of a provider and support any legal actions or interventions.

Electronic Cigarettes: Sales

Greg Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Office for Product Safety and Standards is taking against producers, importers or distributors who sell unsafe or non-compliant e-cigarette and refill container products.

Maggie Throup: The Department of Health and Social Care is the responsible department for the regulation of e-cigarettes. The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, through the Office for Product Safety and Standards, does not have a role in compliance or enforcement of e-cigarettes The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 introduced e-cigarette product and safety standards, with a duty to notify the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of any product which is to be placed on the United Kingdom market. Non-compliant products are subject to local trading standards enforcement measures. The Department works with the MHRA, Trading Standards and other regulatory enforcement agencies to ensure that products sold in the UK comply with regulations for all e-cigarette products and that non-compliant products are removed from the market.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase the number of sites where persons vaccinated for covid-19 outside of England can update their NHS vaccine records.

Maggie Throup: There are currently 17 vaccination centres capable of recording overseas vaccinations in the National Immunisation Management Service. There is at least one site in each of the seven National Health Service regions.A further 13 sites have been identified by regional teams as appropriate to offer this service. This will double the current capacity by the end of March 2022.

Coronavirus

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department holds data on the number of people who have been infected by covid-19 more than once.

Maggie Throup: The UK Health Security Agency monitors weekly COVID-19 cases, including numbers and rates of COVID-19 reinfections in England. As of 9 January 2022, 425,890 possible re-infections had been identified in England since the first recorded re-infection with 12.2 million first positive or primary infections in the same period. The weekly rates of possible reinfections per 1,000 first infections closely follow the profile for first infections.

Coronavirus: Remote Working

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to issue guidance for people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed, and therefore vulnerable to covid-19, to work from home.

Maggie Throup: Updated public health advice was issued on 24 December 2021 for people whose immune system means they are at higher risk of serious outcomes from COVID-19, which is available at the following link:www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk

Abortion: Drugs

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what risk assessment his Department has undertaken to help ensure that women accessing abortion pills via telemedical services since March 2020 are protected from (a) sex traffickers, (b) abusive partners and (c) coercive partners.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has undertaken a review since March 2020 of the ability of abortion providers to ensure that women have privacy during a remote consultation for medical abortion pills.

Maggie Throup: All providers must comply with legal requirements and follow statutory guidance relating to children, young people and vulnerable adults. Women who present for an abortion should have the opportunity to speak privately to a trained health professional during the consultation.We are considering evidence submitted to the Government’s public consultation on the temporary measure allowing home use of both pills for early medical abortion. The consultation sought feedback on the impact of the provision of abortion services in relation to safety, privacy and confidentiality of access, as well as the impacts on different groups or communities. We will publish our response as soon as possible.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Johnny Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to issue updated guidance following the lifting of covid-19 Plan B restrictions for people assessed as being clinically extremely vulnerable.

Maggie Throup: The Government ended the shielding programme on 15 September 2021. People previously considered clinically extremely vulnerable are advised to follow general guidance, while considering extra precautions to reduce the risk of infection. Updated public health advice was issued on 24 December 2021 for those previously considered clinically extremely vulnerable, which is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19We have also issued guidance for people whose immune system means they are at higher risk of serious outcomes from COVID-19, which is available at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk NHS England and NHS Improvement have written to general practices and hospital trusts in England to raise awareness of the guidance.

Dentistry: Coronavirus

Matt Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of covid-19 vaccine requirements for staff in healthcare environments on levels of staffing in dentistry.

Edward Argar: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell MP) on 18 January 2022 to Question 100611.

Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions

Sir Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 79292, tabled by the hon. Member for Broxbourne on 22 November 2021, regarding coronavirus and vaccination.

Edward Argar: I refer the hon. Member to the answer to Question 79292.

Cancer: Nurses

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of cancer specialist nurses.

Edward Argar: We have provided £52 million in 2021/22 for Health Education England to invest in the cancer and diagnostics workforce, including offering training grants for 250 nurses wishing to become cancer clinical nurse specialists and for an additional 100 nurses wishing to become chemotherapy nurses. Following the Spending Review in 2021, individual budgets for 2022/23 to 2024/25, including for training the cancer workforce, will be subject to a detailed financial planning exercise and finalised in due course.The NHS People Plan includes a programme to retain staff through prioritising health and wellbeing. All staff have access to resources such as health and wellbeing apps, a helpline and text service and 40 mental health hubs. The NHS Retention Programme is also targeting interventions to support staff to stay in the profession.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to facilitate the rollout of the international NHS COVID pass to 12-15 year olds before half term in February 2022.

Maggie Throup: Since 13 December 2021, fully vaccinated 12 to 15 year olds can demonstrate their vaccination status using an NHS COVID Pass travel letter. From 3 February 2022, children aged 12 years old and over can access a digital NHS COVID Pass for international travel. The digital NHS COVID Pass will provide a record of vaccinations received and evidence of prior infection or recovery for 180 days following a positive National Health Service polymerase chain reaction test. The pass will be available via NHS.UK for those aged 12 years old and over and via the NHS App for those aged 13 years old and over.

Members: Correspondence

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare of 12 November and 16 December on behalf of his constituent,Christina Hadjistephani.

Edward Argar: We replied to the hon. Member on 26 January 2022.

Ambulance Services: Standards

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many ambulance services are at Level 4 REAP in England as at 22 January 2022.

Edward Argar: As of 22 January 2022, nine ambulance services were at Level 4 REAP.

Mechanical Thrombectomy

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2021 to Question 81501 on Mechanical Thrombectomy, how many of the 24 centres offering thrombectomy procedures offer a 24/7 service.

Maria Caulfield: Of the 24 centres offering thrombectomy procedures, six centres currently offer services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

General Practitioners

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of general practice appointments, excluding covid-19 vaccination appointments, that took place on each working day in (a) October, (b) November and (c) December 2021.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of general practice appointments that took place on each working day in (a) October, (b) November and (c) December 2019.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of general practice appointments took place in person, excluding covid-19 vaccination appointments, in (a) October 2021 (b) November 2021 and (c) December 2021.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of general practice appointments took place in person in (a) October 2019, (b) November 2019 and (c) December 2019.

Maria Caulfield: The following table shows the proportion of face-to-face general practice appointments in the months requested, excluding COVID-19 vaccination appointments. Data for December 2021 is not yet available. October 2019November 2019December 2019October 2021November 202181%80.3%79.5%64.4%62.7% Note: Percentages are rounded to one decimal place. Information on the number of vaccinations appointments on each working day is not held. However, the following table shows an estimate of the average appointments per working day for the months requested, excluding COVID-19 vaccination appointments. Data for December 2021 is not yet available. October 2019November 2019December 2019October 2021November 20211,340,0001,307,1431,209,0001,447,6191,385,909 Source: NHS Digital https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/appointments-in-general-practice

Strokes: Mental Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme post-acute audit finding of December 2021, that waiting times for clinical psychologists average 10 weeks from referral to treatment, what assessment he has made of the impact of that waiting time on stroke rehabilitation; and what further steps he will take to recruit and train more clinical psychologists.

Maria Caulfield: NHS England and NHS Improvement have funded the stroke rehabilitation pilot programme of three sites across England which are testing improved ways of delivering stroke rehabilitation, which include access to psychological support. Lessons learned from these pilots will improve the principles and delivery of community-based stroke rehabilitation across England Health Education England has supported a 60% expansion in the clinical psychology training intake over the past two years. This is expected to achieve a growth of 2,520 additional psychologists in the National Health Service workforce by 2025. Since 2020/21, there are over 500 additional clinical psychology trainees employed in NHS services, creating additional capacity at the beginning of their training.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of (a) booster buses and (b) pop up clinics in providing hard to reach communities with covid-19 vaccination services.

Maggie Throup: The COVID-19 vaccine programme continuously assesses its delivery models to ensure sufficient capacity and accessibility. Feedback from communities and frontline teams indicate that mobile clinics, including booster buses and pop-up clinics serving hard to reach communities encourage uptake. Further evaluation by NHS England and NHS Improvement is underway.

Health: Disadvantaged

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will develop a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities.

Maria Caulfield: The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities is developing relationships across Government, the National Health Service, the wider public health system and industry to improve health outcomes and reduce inequalities. Further information on plans to tackle the disparities in health outcomes will be made available in due course.The Health Promotion Taskforce has been established to promote the importance of preventing ill-health and addressing health disparities, informed by expert, evidence-based advice, including from the Chief Medical Officer. In addition, the Government will publish a white paper this year, setting out interventions to improve livelihoods and opportunity in all parts of the country and supporting local government.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what additional support he is providing to public health teams to target areas of low covid-19 vaccine take up in areas of greatest deprivation (a) in York and (b) nationally.

Maggie Throup: In December 2021, the Government announced £22.5 million for the Community Vaccine Champions Scheme to support 60 local authorities with lowest COVID-19 vaccine uptake, including those in areas of greatest deprivation. Community Champions will work with local councils address barriers to accurate vaccine information and encourage community members to get vaccinated.NHS England and NHS Improvement have targeted communications with all eligible citizens which is linked to work by contact tracers engaging with resistant or hesitant groups on a one-to-one basis. In addition, the NHS also contacts individuals who are eligible and not yet taken up the offer of a vaccine. Clinical commissioning groups have advertised clinics online with leaflet drops to coincide with planned ‘pop-up’ clinics.The main York vaccination site has opened 12 hours a day, seven days a week with a walk-in service. Pop-up clinics have opened at York St Johns to address low uptake in the Guildhall ward, with accompanying leaflet drops to promote local clinics. NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with community transport providers and local voluntary sector groups to support funded transport. A pharmacy provider offer has been established where low take up has been identified, supported by targeted publicity. Outreach clinics are targeting vulnerable groups such as the homeless and asylum seekers, tailored learning disability clinics have been provided at Askham Bar and Haxby and mobile units deployed to housebound patients and schools in areas of greatest deprivation.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the roll out of the covid-19 booster vaccine to people who are housebound (a) nationally and (b) in York.

Maggie Throup: National Health Service regions, Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and community pharmacy-led local vaccination services are monitoring progress and identifying whether further interventions are required to support the delivery of booster vaccinations to those who are housebound. A standard operating procedure for managing roving vaccination units has been provided to local health teams for those patients who require a home visit. Every eligible adult in England aged 18 years old and over has now been offered a booster vaccination, including all those who are housebound. NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group has worked with its PCNs and vaccination services to ensure that people who are housebound have been fully vaccinated and received booster doses. During the first week of January 2022, PCNs in York confirmed that the majority of housebound patients had received booster vaccinations. Any outstanding doses were due to patients being hospitalised or awaiting recovery from COVID-19 infection.

Dental Services

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure equitable access to NHS dental care.

Maria Caulfield: National Health Service dental practices are currently prioritising urgent care, vulnerable groups and children and delayed planned care. We have allocated an additional £50 million in 2021/22 to ensure equitable access to dental services. There are a range of exemptions to dental patient charges and approximately half of patients were treated free of charge in 2020/21. Support is also available through the NHS Low Income Scheme for patients who are not eligible for an exemption or full remission.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Sir Desmond Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will instruct the companies that undertook trials for covid-19 vaccines that have been approved by the MHRA to publish the anonymised participant level data underlying those trials.

Maggie Throup: There are no plans to do so. All trials are ongoing and it is not appropriate to publish detailed, subject level data. A sponsor may choose to publish interim results for a trial with individual listings of safety events but this will not include subject level detail. There is also an expectation that a summary of the results is published within 12 months of study completion. This applies whether the results are positive, negative, neutral or inconclusive.

Healthy Start Scheme

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure recipients of Healthy Start vouchers are not excluded from the scheme once the vouchers have been replaced by pre-paid cards.

Maria Caulfield: The NHS Business Service Authority are in the process of transferring existing Healthy Start beneficiaries, who are in receipt of paper vouchers, to the new pre-paid card scheme. All beneficiaries will be given the opportunity to apply to the NHS Healthy Start scheme, before the paper voucher service closes on 31 March 2022.

Healthy Start Scheme

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that recipients of Healthy Start coupons can continue to redeem those coupons with retailers that do not possess chip-and-pin machines once vouchers have been replaced by pre-paid cards.

Maria Caulfield: Retailers who are currently registered with the Healthy Start scheme can continue to accept Healthy Start paper vouchers that are valid. Retailers must submit these to the Healthy Start Reimbursement Unit within six months of the expiry date on the voucher. Healthy Start beneficiaries will no longer receive paper vouchers after this service ends on 31 March 2022. Vouchers can be used until the expiry date shown.

Healthy Start Scheme: Pregnancy

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether a pregnant woman who will be giving birth to a child in England is eligible for Healthy Start coupons before the child is born.

Maria Caulfield: The Healthy Start scheme offers support to pregnant women at least 10 weeks into pregnancy if they are in receipt of any of the following benefits:- Income Support;- Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance;- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance;- Child Tax Credit;- Universal Credit; and- Pension Credit.Pregnant women aged under 18 years old are also eligible for Healthy Start, regardless of whether they receive any of the above benefits.

IVF: LGBT People

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that there are no (a) practical and (b) financial barriers for LGBTQ+ people when accessing IVF treatments.

Maria Caulfield: The Department undertook a policy review of the variation in access to National Health Service fertility services in 2021. The review will inform the Women’s Health Strategy, which is due to be published in spring 2022.We expect local NHS commissioning bodies to commission fertility services in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) guidelines, to ensure equitable access in England. NICE guidelines were updated in 2013 to include provision for female same-sex couples. However, these are now outdated and the Department has agreed with NICE that the fertility guidelines should be reviewed and scoping for the review has started.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many post legislative reviews (a) their Department or (b) their predecessor Department has undertaken on (i) primary and (ii) secondary legislation in each of the last five years.

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many and what proportion of the (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation sponsored by (i) their Department or (ii) their predecessor Department has undergone a post legislative review in each of the last 10 years.

Simon Hart: My Department has completed one post legislative review of its primary legislation in the last 10 years and none in the last five. Work is underway to prepare an assessment of the Wales Act 2017. No such reviews have been necessary in respect of the department’s secondary legislation.

Department for Education

Employment Schemes: Health Professions

Laura Farris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve adult participation in access programmes for careers in the health and care professions.

Alex Burghart: High quality careers information, advice and guidance is key to helping people to make informed decisions about their future, including being able to find out about and consider the different options, including those in the health and care professions, available to them. We are investing £100 million in careers provision for young people and adults in the financial year 2021-22. The National Careers Service, a free, government funded careers information, advice and guidance service draws on a range of labour market information to support and guide individuals. The National Careers Service is impartial, and careers guidance is tailored to individual needs, but careers advisers can play a key role in alerting people to the range of health and care profession careers available. The National Careers Service supports this through disseminating regular information to careers advisers.The National Careers Service website gives customers access to a range of useful digital tools and resources to support them, including ‘Explore Careers’ which includes more than 130 industry areas and more than 800 job profiles, covering a range of health and care profession roles, describing what those roles entail, qualifications and entry routes.The National Careers Service uses a range of techniques, including social media, to alert people to opportunities. For example, the Service has hosted free webinars in the North West about the range of roles available in health and social care. Virtual jobs fairs introducing potential employees to recruiting organisations regularly take place across England, for example the recent Gloucester Care Jobs Fair.High-quality, employer-designed apprenticeships, from the Level 2 healthcare support worker to the Level 6 registered nurse degree apprenticeship, support people to begin or progress in health and care related careers.We are also working with employers to develop an occupational traineeship in Adult Care to support those aged 24 and under into apprenticeships and employment in the sector.

Pre-school Education

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) availability and (b) affordability of early years education and childcare.

Will Quince: In terms of the availability of childcare spaces, we know from findings from the Childcare and early years providers survey 2021 that there is some spare capacity in the system. 7 in 10 (70%) group-based providers reported having spare places in their full day provision and almost half of childminders (49%) reported having spare capacity on average across the week. The Childcare and early years providers survey 2021 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2021.The department continues to monitor sufficiency of childcare places and liaise regularly with local authorities. Local authorities are not currently reporting any substantial sufficiency or supply issues.In terms of affordability, this government provides a substantial offer to parents regarding childcare. All 3 and 4-year-olds and disadvantaged 2-year-olds can benefit from 15 hours free early education, and eligible working parents can access an additional 15 hours (also known as ‘30 hours’), which can help save families over £6,000 per child a year. In 2021, 328,700 children had a government-funded early education entitlement place for 30 hours.The tax-free childcare offer is also available for working families. This scheme means that for every £8 parents pay their provider via an online account, the government will pay £2, up to a maximum contribution of £2,000 per child each year (up to £500 every 3 months). Additionally, Universal Credit Childcare reimburses up to 85% of childcare costs for working parents on a low income. This is subject to a monthly limit of £646 for one child or £1108 for two or more children, payable in arrears.

Conversion Therapy: Children

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will include safeguarding from sexual orientation and gender identity conversion therapy in his Department's guidance entitled Keeping children safe in education.

Will Quince: The department’s statutory safeguarding guidance 'keeping children safe in education' (KCSIE) contains extensive safeguarding advice which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.It contains extensive advice about all forms of abuse and neglect including the indicators of these harms. KCSIE is clear that all staff should have an awareness of safeguarding issues that can put children at risk of harm. So-called conversion therapy, whilst not explicitly referenced, may well in many instances fall into this category.Currently so-called conversion therapy is not illegal, though some of the practices will be as they are already considered to be abusive and/or illegal.KCSIE currently contains guidance on matters such as female genital mutilation and other specific harms that are underpinned by legislation. Once similar legislation is in place for so-called conversion therapy we will consider whether it is necessary and/or appropriate to reflect any changes in KCSIE as we do on a routine and annual basis.The department has undertaken extensive communications with the sector and continues to consider what more it can do on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) matters such as this.We are currently consulting on revisions to KCSIE for 2022, in which we have incorporated departmental advice, such as on the issue of sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges. In particular we have reminded schools and colleges of their legal duties with regard to the Human Rights Act 1998, the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty. We have also included a new section on how children who are LGBT can be targeted by other children. In some cases, a child who is perceived by other children to be LGBT (whether they are or not) can be just as vulnerable as children who identify as LGBT.We expect to publish revised guidance for information in May 2022, with it coming into force in September 2022.The consultation can be found here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/safeguarding-in-schools-team/kcsie-proposed-revisions-2022/.

Schools: Speech and Language Therapy

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that schools can offer all children access to speech and language therapy.

Will Quince: Under the Children and Families Act 2014, all schools are required to identify and address the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) of the pupils they support, including those with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), and to endeavour to make sure that a child or young person gets the support they need.Schools, along with the local authority and health partners, should work with families to co-produce arrangements for delivering speech and language therapy. Spending on speech and language therapy is determined at a local level.The department recognises the impact that the COVID-19 outbreak has had on children and young people with SLCN. In the recent spending review, we announced £1.8 billion of additional funding for those who need it most, bringing total investment in education recovery to almost £5 billion. Within this, in June 2020 we announced a £1 billion catch-up package including a catch-up premium for the 2020/21 academic year. Schools were able to decide how this catch-up premium was spent, for example, on speech and language therapy.As part of our catch-up package, we have invested £17 million to deliver the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme, which supports children in reception with their language skills. Over two thirds of eligible mainstream primary schools are taking part in this proven, evidence-based programme, benefitting around 90,000 children most in need of language support. This is in addition to £10 million for pre-school early language development training announced February 2021.The government recognises that the current SEND system does not deliver the outcomes we want and expect for all children and young people with SEND, their families or the people and services who support them. The SEND Review is seeking to improve the outcomes for children, with high expectations and ambitions, and is looking at ways to support mainstream settings to identify and get support to children and young people more quickly, through making best use of precious expertise such as speech and language therapists. These issues are long-standing and complex, but the government is determined to deliver real, lasting change. We intend to publish the SEND Review in the first 3 months of 2022.

Local Government Services: Children and Young People

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the availability of specialist services and support commissioned and provided by local authorities in England for children and young people with a vision impairment.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of local authority funding reductions on the availability of specialist services and support commissioned and provided by local authorities in England for children and young people with a vision impairment.

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the level of consistency of the availability of specialist services and support commissioned and provided by local authorities for children and young people with a vision impairment in different parts of England.

Will Quince: The department is firmly committed to ensuring that children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with visual impairments, receive the support they need to achieve in their early years, at school and at college.Information on the availability of specialist services and support commissioned and provided by local authorities in England for children and young people with SEND, including those with a visual impairment can be found in a Local Offer, which each local authority is required to publish. Local authorities are required to work with children, young people, and their families to develop their local offer so that it responds to local need.It is a legal requirement for qualified teachers of classes of pupils who have sensory impairments to hold the relevant mandatory qualification, referred to as an MQSI. To offer MQSIs, providers must be approved by the Secretary of State for Education.We intend to develop a new approval process to determine providers of MQSIs from the start of the 2023/2024 academic year. Our aim is to ensure a steady supply of teachers of children with visual, hearing, and multi-sensory impairment, in both specialist and mainstream settings.High needs funding, which is specifically for supporting children with more complex SEND, including those with vision impairment, will be increasing by £1 billion in the 2022-23 financial year and will bring the overall total of funding for high needs to £9.1 billion. This unprecedented increase of 13% comes on top of the £1.5 billion increase over the last two years.Decisions about how funding is used locally, including for the employment of specialist teachers for visually impaired children and other specialist services, are made by local authorities and schools.The government has recognised that the current SEND system, established through the Children and Families Act 2014, does not consistently deliver for children and young people with SEND, their families or the people and services who support them. The SEND Review is seeking to improve the outcomes and experience of all children and young people with SEND, within a sustainable system. The Review will publish as a Green Paper for full public consultation in the first three months of this year.

Religion: Education

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps has his Department taken to support the teaching of religious education in schools.

Mr Robin Walker: The government firmly believes in the importance of good quality religious education (RE) as it is essential in developing children’s knowledge of British values and traditions, and those of other countries. It is a compulsory subject for all state-funded schools, including academies, for all pupils up to the age of 18.The department supports the teaching of RE in several ways, including through central funding, curriculum support and teacher training.Each local authority is required by law to establish a Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE), and department funding is provided via the central schools services block of the national funding formula. We do not specify what proportion of funding is allocated to specific services, but it is expected that some is allocated by local authorities to their SACRE-related activity. The responsibilities of each SACRE include:advising the local authority on all aspects of its provision for RE in its schoolsadvising on matters relating to training for teachers in RE and collective worshipdeveloping ways of supporting schools in the delivery of locally agreed RE syllabuses and monitoring its deliveryIn relation to the curriculum, Oak National Academy, funded by the department, provides lesson plans, teaching materials and curriculum maps for RE for key stages 1 to 4. Further information is available here: www.thenational.academy.In relation to teacher training, subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses may be appropriate in cases where a Schools Direct lead school or an initial teacher training provider identifies applicants who have the potential to become outstanding teachers but who need to increase their subject knowledge in a range of subjects, including an 8 week religious education course. Further information is available here: www.gov.uk/guidance/subject-knowledge-enhancement-an-introduction.The 8 week SKE can be undertaken on a full-time or part-time basis, and it must be completed before qualified teacher status can be recommended and awarded.

Private Education

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to publish its response to the consultation on children not in state-funded or registered independent schools that closed on 24 June 2019.

Mr Robin Walker: The department remains committed to a register for children not in school. We will set out further details on this in the government response to the ‘children not in school’ consultation, which we will publish in the coming weeks.

Universities: Freedom of Expression

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to protect freedom of speech on university campuses.

Michelle Donelan: The government believes that freedom of speech and academic freedom are fundamental pillars of our higher education system, and that protecting these principles should be a priority for universities.That is why we have introduced the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, which passed its 2nd reading in the House of Commons on 12 July 2021 and was debated by the Public Bill Committee in September 2021. The Bill will strengthen existing freedom of speech duties and directly address gaps within the existing law. This includes the fact there is no clear way of enforcing the current law when a higher education provider breaches it as well as applying the duties directly to students’ unions and constituent colleges. The changes will introduce clear consequences for breaches of the new duties and ensure that these principles are upheld.

Lifelong Education and Skilled Workers

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to promote lifelong learning and skills development.

Michelle Donelan: It is a priority for this government to ensure that everyone can access the skills they need to have the career they want, wherever they live and whatever their stage in life. Just last week, we launched the Skills for Life campaign, which will promote skills offers among adults, such as Free Courses for Jobs, Skills Bootcamps and apprenticeships.This is in addition to our wider support for adults to get the skills they need. Whether through the Adult Education Budget or delivering on the promise of a Lifelong Loan Entitlement under my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, which, from 2025, will enable flexible and modular study across higher and further education.

Higher Education: Finance

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what contingency plans he has in place in the event that a higher education provider should financially fail.

Michelle Donelan: The Office for Students (OfS) is the independent regulator of higher education in England. The OfS monitors the financial viability and sustainability of providers registered with them and their primary contingency against the impact on students in the event that a higher education provider should financially fail is the Student Protection Plan which must be agreed with OfS by each provider.From 1 April 2021 the OfS introduced a new registration condition (Condition C4) that requires compliance with student protection directions issued by the OfS where the OfS reasonably considers that there is a material risk the provider will exit the English higher education market or cease trading or delivering higher education.In the event of institutional financial failure leading to market exit, the department would assist the OfS in collaborating cross-government action on the wider consequences, to mitigate the impacts on those employed directly and indirectly by the provider, the local economy, research, innovation and knowledge exchange.The OfS report dated December 2021 shows that despite the many operational and financial challenges arising from the COVID-19 outbreak, the overall financial position of universities, colleges and other providers registered with the OfS across the higher education sector has remained sound over the course of the last year, with generally reasonable financial resilience.Providers were able to manage COVID-19 impacts better than originally expected, with student numbers holding up, and through careful management of cash and costs. Government support measures have served to help universities navigate those challenges.Department for Education officials work closely with the OfS who continuously monitor provider financial sustainability, engaging more closely with those where it considers there to be increased financial risk. It is important to note that universities are autonomous businesses and continue to remain responsible for the decisions they make in regard to their business model and sustainability.

Department for Education: Disclosure of Information

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the prevalence of the use of non-disclosure agreements in his Department.

Michelle Donelan: The Department for Education does not use non-disclosure agreements with its employees.

Department for Education: Disclosure of Information

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many non-disclosure agreements have been issued by his Department since February 2020.

Michelle Donelan: The department has entered into no non-disclosure agreements since February 2020. The department does not use non-disclosure agreements with its employees.

Department for Education: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many post legislative reviews (a) their Department or (b) their predecessor Department has undertaken on (i) primary and (ii) secondary legislation in each of the last five years.

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of the (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation sponsored by (i) their Department or (ii) their predecessor Department has undergone a post legislative review in each of the last 10 years.

Michelle Donelan: The number of post legislative reviews the department has undertaken on primary and secondary legislation in each of the last five or ten years is not held within the department.

Education: Standards

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what meetings he has had with the Office for Students ahead of the publication of their consultation on the new student outcomes approach.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what meetings he has had with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education ahead of the publication of the Office for Students' consultation on the new student outcomes approach.

Michelle Donelan: The department meets regularly with the Office for Students (OfS) and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.The OfS published consultations on improving the quality of higher education (HE) in England on 20 January. These set out the numerical thresholds which will underpin minimum acceptable student outcomes and how high quality provision will be recognised through the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).Our HE sector is world class but there are too many pockets of poor quality that let students down, particularly those from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds.In line with the government’s manifesto commitment and building upon our announcement last year to refocus universities’ access and participation plans on real social mobility, we are taking serious steps, with the OfS, to drive up the quality of HE across the sector and to tackle the unacceptable pockets of poor quality provision which do not offer value for money for the taxpayer or our students.Universities and colleges not meeting these minimum expectations will face investigation and consideration of whether they are in breach of their registration conditions, which could lead to sanctions, including fines and reduced access to student finance. These minimum levels are just one factor the OfS will consider. As is currently the case, and as described in the consultation document, the OfS will continue to consider a provider’s wider context, including its student characteristics, before making any final decisions on compliance with registration conditions.This government believes that every student, regardless of background, deserves quality and transparency from their university or provider about their course. These measures are about tackling low quality, and, through the TEF, rewarding high quality, and ensuring transparency which, overall, will maintain confidence in the HE sector.

Office for Students: Finance

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the financial viability of the Office for Students.

Michelle Donelan: The department regularly assesses the Office for Students’ funding to ensure that it is able to effectively resource and deliver strategic priorities across the higher education sector. The Office for Students is also required to publish its audited annual report and accounts which includes its financial statements.

Students: Meningitis

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of rising numbers of meningitis-B cases amongst the student population.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the rising number of meningitis-B cases amongst the student population.

Michelle Donelan: It has been a priority of this government to keep students in Higher Education as safe as possible during the COVID-19 outbreak and we have worked closely with the Department of Health and Social Care during this time. This continues as students return to the full programme of face-to-face teaching and learning that they received before the COVID-19 outbreak.The government is aware of the risks of communicable diseases in settings such as Higher Education, where large numbers of people mix closely in confined environments. The United Kingdom Health Security Agency has published a toolkit for Higher Education providers on vaccine preventable infectious diseases: https://khub.net/documents/135939561/174090192/MMR+MenACWY+and+coronovirus+vaccine+comms+toolkit+for+universities.pdf/6ec4e100-242b-4f5c-f1ea-bf88cace1ecb.This toolkit includes advice and links to free resources for providers to use with their students in order to protect their health and wellbeing, and it encourages students to be vaccinated against a range of infectious diseases, including meningitis, measles, mumps and COVID-19.

Students: Social Class

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of socio-economic background on the drop-out rate of first-year undergraduate students.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of socio-economic background on the graduation rate of undergraduate students.

Matt Western: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of socio-economic background on the employment rate of recent undergraduate graduates.

Michelle Donelan: The Office for Students (OfS) publishes statistics across different aspects of the student lifecycle to help inform regulatory processes. The OfS Access and Participation dashboard shows how students from disadvantaged backgrounds perform across the following indicators:Continuation: the percentage of first year students who continue their studies after 12 months (full-time students) or 24 months (part-time students).Attainment: the percentage of students who graduated with first or upper second-class degrees.Progression: the percentage of students progressing to highly skilled employment or higher-level study. Measures of disadvantage include Index of Multiple Deprivation and Participation of Local Areas, which are based on the neighbourhood that students lived in before starting their course. More information about these terms, as well as a user guide for the dashboard can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/access-and-participation-data-dashboard/dashboard-user-guide/key-terms/.

Educational Psychology: Staff

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of educational psychologist provision; and what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on adequate provision of educational psychologists.

Will Quince: Local authorities are responsible for the recruitment and deployment of educational psychologists, who have statutory duties to input into educational health and care plans, as well as wider responsibilities in helping to support children and young people across the education system. The department works in partnership with local educational psychology services to ensure there is a steady flow of educational psychologists into the workforce.Since 2020, we have increased the number of educational psychologists whose training we fund from 160 to over 200 per academic year.The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Review is seeking to improve the outcomes and experience of all children and young people with SEND, within a sustainable system. The Review will publish as a green paper for full public consultation in the first 3 months of this year.

Adoption Support Fund

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to rename the Adoption Support Fund, to make it clear that it is also available to special guardianship families.

Will Quince: The Adoption Support Fund (ASF) has had a significant and positive impact on the adoptive and special guardianship families that are able to access the important support it funds. Local authorities continue to promote the availability of the ASF to eligible families.The department has worked with local authorities and voluntary sector organisations such as the Family Rights Group and Kinship, to promote the ASF amongst special guardians and we have seen an increase in the take up by these families over the past 2 years.The department will be able to confirm more detailed plans for the ASF in due course but remains deeply committed to these families.

Nurseries: Finance

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing the Funded Early Learning rate given to local authorities for nursery funding to align with the increase in the National Minimum Wage from April 2022.

Will Quince: At the Spending Review on 27 October 2021, we announced that we are investing additional funding for the early years entitlements worth £160 million in the 2022-23 financial year, £180 million in 2023-24 and £170 million in 2024-25, compared to the current year. This is for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers and reflects cost pressures, like the increase in the national minimum wage, as well as anticipated changes in the number of eligible children.For 2022-23 we will increase the hourly funding rates for all local authorities by 21p an hour for the two-year-old entitlement and, for the vast majority of areas, by 17p an hour for the three and four-year-old entitlement. Uplifted funding rates for each local authority for 2022-23 were published on 25 November 2021: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-funding-2022-to-2023.

Special Educational Needs: Standards

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to (a) set national standards in respect of SEND provision and to (b) ensure equitable provision throughout the country where local authorities decide how specialist provision will be made in their area.

Will Quince: The department has heard throughout the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Review that the level of variation in SEND provision across the country is part of what drives some of the challenges and dissatisfaction with the current system. This is part of what we plan to address through the Review to ensure better outcomes and experiences for those with SEND, within a sustainable system. The department will publish proposals as a green paper for public consultation, in the first 3 months of 2022.Currently, the department supports and hold local areas to account for the quality of their local SEND provision through joint inspections by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. Once an inspection report has been published, SEND case leads in the department work closely with our regional SEND adviser team and NHS England advisers to support and challenge local areas to secure the improvements required.

Disability: Children and Families

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Disabled Children's Partnership Count Disabled Children In polling results, released 17 January 2022, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding that 18 per cent of the public thought that disabled children and families got the right support from councils and the NHS.

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Disabled Children's Partnership Count Disabled Children In polling results, released 17 January 2022, what recent steps he has taken to reduce the time taken to consider Education, Health and Care Plan assessments for disabled children.

Will Quince: The department works closely with the Disabled Children’s Partnership and we are reviewing the findings of their latest report.The Children and Families Act 2014 (Section 97) requires local authorities to assess and support the needs of parents/carers as well as those of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Assessments are based on individual needs but should include parents’ well-being and ‘control over day-to-day life’.The SEND code of practice also makes clear that local authorities must give their decision in response to any request for an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment within a maximum of 6 weeks from when the request was received or the point at which a child or young person was brought to the local authority’s attention.However, the SEND system currently does not deliver for all children and young people with SEND. We further recognise that the COVID-19 outbreak disproportionately impacted young people with SEND and their families, which is why we are conducting a review of the SEND system. The department uses data to monitor and assess local authority performance and has been supporting local authorities to meet their statutory duties for SEND, including by providing challenge and support to those local authorities where there are long-standing delays.Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission continue with their full inspection programme and our team of SEND advisers and colleagues in NHS England are continuing to provide support and challenge to help improve performance.Depending on the underlying issues that each local authority faces, such as those relating to EHC assessments, we commission specialist and regional support from our delivery partners or facilitate peer to peer support.

Teachers: Re-employment

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many former teachers have signed up to return to teaching, by local authority; and how many of those former teachers have been placed in schools.

Mr Robin Walker: The department is extremely grateful to all the teachers who are responding to our call to return temporarily to the classroom to support schools to remain open and deliver face to face education for pupils.The department published the results of a sample survey of supply agencies on 12 January. 47 agencies reported 485 sign ups as a result of the call to arms with Teach First reporting over 100 expressions of interest from their alumni to temporarily return to the classroom.The department needs to balance the need for data with the burden we place on those collating it. Therefore, we did not request information by upper/lower tier local authority and the employment agencies that are working with us have no reason to sort and organise their candidates in such a way. Where a specific supply teacher is prepared to work will differ from individual to individual for many different reasons.The department remains in close contact with supply agencies to monitor the interest they receive to help schools during this time.

Schools: Lancashire

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the budgetary pressures on schools in Lancashire.

Mr Robin Walker: This government continues to deliver, year on year, real terms per pupil increases to school funding with the total core schools budget increasing to £56.8 billion by financial year 2024-25 (compared to £49.8 billion in the 2021-22 financial year).Future increases in funding have been frontloaded to rapidly get money to schools. In the financial year 2022-23 alone, core schools funding will increase nationally by £4 billion compared to 2021-22, a 5% real terms per pupil boost. This includes an additional £1.2 billion for schools in the new schools supplementary grant for financial year 2022-23.In Lancashire, funding through the dedicated schools grant and the indicative figures for the schools supplementary grant for mainstream schools combined, is forecast to see an extra £53.6 million for schools in financial year 2022-23, an increase of 5.6% per pupil. This per pupil funding increase excludes “growth” funding, which is additional funding provided for schools seeing significant increases in pupil numbers. This takes total funding for 2022–23 in Lancashire to over £903 million. This will help schools rise to the challenges of COVID-19, increase teacher pay, and meet the cost of the Health and Social Care Levy, while continuing their work to raise attainment.On top of the core funding uplift for schools, at Spending Review 2021 the department has announced a further £1.8 billion of new funding nationally, specifically for recovery for those the department knows will need it most. This takes overall investment specifically dedicated towards pupils’ recovery to almost £5 billion.The department pays close attention to the financial health of the sector. The latest published data on schools’ revenue reserves shows schools on average have been able to add to their reserves in the 2020-21 financial year. At the end of the 2020-21 financial year, 92% of maintained schools were in cumulative surplus or breaking even, compared to 88% the previous year. The percentage of maintained schools in Lancashire operating with a cumulative surplus by the end of 2020-21 increased to 95%, compared to 92% at the end of financial year 2019-20. All schools continue to be able to access a wide range of school resource management tools. Schools in serious financial difficulty should contact their local authority or the Education and Skills Funding Agency.The department’s analysis of the cost pressures schools face are published annually in the schools’ costs technical note which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-costs-technical-note.Analysis for financial year 2021-22 will be published shortly.

Department for Education: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pieces of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation their Department has sponsored in each of the last 10 years.

Michelle Donelan: The number of pieces of both primary and secondary legislation sponsored by government departments could be calculated utilising publicly available information. This information is not held within the department.

Steiner Schools Foundation

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Steiner school education system.

Mr Robin Walker: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has made no specific assessment about the merits of the Steiner school education system. Independent schools are required to always meet the independent school standards, including standards related to the quality of education. Within that, independent schools are free to set their own curriculum. When independent schools fail to meet the standards, the department can take regulatory or enforcement action in line with its published policy.

Ministry of Justice

Bounce Back Loan Scheme: Fraud

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the number of cases in which a fraud conviction has been secured involving the coronavirus Bounce Back Loan scheme and in which individuals have created a fake company in order to secure a coronavirus Bounce Back Loan.

James Cartlidge: The number of prosecutions and convictions for Bounce Back Loan fraud offences where individuals created a fake company is not centrally held in the court proceedings database, as the Bounce Back Loan scheme is not separately identified from wider fraud offences in legislation. Identifying these offences separately would require a manual search of court records, which would be at disproportionate costs.Published figures provide the number of prosecutions and convictions for the following offences may include offences of fraud involving the Bounce Back Loan scheme:False Accounting,Fraud by false representation: other frauds,Fraud by failing to disclose information,Fraud by abuse of position,Conspiracy to defraud,Money Laundering,Disclosure, obstruction, false or misleading statements. The number of prosecutions and convictions can be found by searching for the above offences in the ‘Offence’ filter in the ‘Outcomes by offence data tool’ available here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987715/outcomes-by-offence-2020.xlsx.As reported in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s 2020-21 Annual Report and Accounts, the latest estimate of the rate of fraud and error in Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) is 11.15%. This estimate is based on a sampling exercise which involved assessing a small proportion of BBLS facilities against potential fraud risk indicators. Such indicators included whether a business was trading at the point of application or prior to 1 March 2020. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will continue to refine these estimates as more data becomes available.

Legal Aid Scheme: Wales

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many legal aid providers there were in (a) Gwent and (b) Wales in (i) 2019 (ii) 2020 and (iii) 2021.

James Cartlidge: The information requested can be found in the tables below:ProvidersMar-19Mar-20Mar-21Gwent (Newport)252625Rest of Wales142131129Total Provider in Wales159149146 OfficesMar-19Mar-20Mar-21Gwent (Newport)323331Rest of Wales235223219Total Offices in Wales267256250 The data above shows both the total number of organisations with a presence in Gwent and Wales and the number of provider offices based in Gwent and Wales as at 31 March for each year. The term provider refers to a particular firm or organisation who holds a contract with the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). The LAA only tracks the number of contracted providers, not the number of individual practitioners who work provide legal aid services. Providers may have one or more office and may hold a contract to provide civil legal aid, criminal legal or both civil and criminal legal aid services.The LAA frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country and moves quickly to secure additional provision where necessary.

Ministry of Justice: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pieces of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation his Department has sponsored in each of the last 10 years.

James Cartlidge: This information is not held centrally within the department. However, the amount of primary and secondary legislation sponsored by Government departments could be calculated using publicly available information.

Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on potential revisions to the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 to help ensure fitness for purpose and to improve protection for victims.

James Cartlidge: There has been no recent discussion with Cabinet colleagues on reforming the Offences against the Person Act 1861.The Government has, however, introduced several measures in the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 in connection with offences against the person including filling a gap in the law on non-fatal strangulation by creating a new offence and clarifying that a person has no defence if they claim a victim consented to behaviour intended to cause serious harm. We also supported the creation of a new form of assault with an increased maximum penalty where the victim is an emergency worker carrying out their duties and proposed - in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill – to increase the maximum penalty for assault on emergency workers to 2 years’ imprisonment. In the same Bill, the Government additionally proposed a new statutory requirement on the courts to consider, as an aggravating factor in sentencing, an assault on a public facing worker serving the public.

Prison Officers: Resignations

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of new prison officers left the service within two years of joining in each year since 2010.

Victoria Atkins: Table 1 shows the number of band 3-5 prison officers who joined in each financial year. Of those officers who joined in that particular year, we have shown the volume and percentage of those who left the service within two years. Table 1: Percentage of all band 3-5 prison officer1 joiners who left within two years2 - based on date of joining, 2009/10 to 2020/21, and 12 months to September 2021 (Headcount)2009/102010/112011/122012/132013/142014/152015/162016/172017/182018/192019/202020/21 12 months to 30 September 20214Band 3-5 Prison Officer1 joiners in each year323617163171451,2591,8022,0774,9334,7452,3172,4103,332Of which those who left within 2 years3641164560313984925681,4621,484727569454Percentage of joiners who left within two years320%19%28%35%69%32%27%27%30%31%31%24%14% Source:HMPPS - Oracle HRMS and Single Operating Platform Data quality and scope: Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. Movements due to machinery of Government changes or due to staff transferring to or from the private sector as a result of changes in the management of establishments are not included in these tables. (p) Figures relating to current financial year are provisional and may be subject to change in future iterations of the HMPPS workforce statistical release. Notes:1. Includes Bands 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.2. Length of service in HMPPS calculated from most recent hire date. Where staff have transferred in from another Government Department or have transferred in through HMPPS taking over a function, length of service is calculated from entry to HMPPS.3. Data is based on hire date and not the leaving date. For example, if someone joined in 2018/19 but left in 2020/21 then they will be recorded against the year they joined (2018/19 not 2020/21). Please note, this approach is different to how data in published and so will not match published statistics.4. Due to the approach outlined, figures for most recent periods will be lower, as 2 years will not have elapsed since time of joining.5. The 2013/14 rate is higher than other years due to a low number of new joiners, and the percentage rate is worked out against joiners compared to leavers.

Prison Accommodation: Females

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to decommission prison places in the women's prison estate over the next five years.

Victoria Atkins: The Government remains wholly committed to delivering the Female Offender Strategy, which has three overarching priorities of: fewer women coming into the criminal justice system; fewer women in custody, especially on short sentences, with more managed effectively in the community; and better conditions for women in custody. The current project to deliver new facilities on the women’s estate that are gender specific and trauma informed is an important step in taking forward this last aim. If the women’s prison population does not rise then we have committed to using these places to close down existing older, less suitable accommodation in the women’s estate.

Offenders: Females

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the National Audit Office report, Improving Outcomes for Women in the Criminal Justice System, what the projected costs and timeframe are for delivering the 500 new prison places for women.

Victoria Atkins: We are consulting with the market, so our current project cost estimate is commercially sensitive until that process has concluded.Given the likely timeframes for planning and construction, we expect the first women to be in the new facilities in early 2025.

Offenders: Females

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the National Audit Office report, Improving Outcomes for Women in the Criminal Justice System, what assessment his Department has made of the Female Offenders Strategy's aim of having fewer women in custody when estimating how many more prison places may be required.

Victoria Atkins: We launched the Female Offender Strategy in 2018 with the aim of steering women away from crime and since then, the number of women entering the criminal justice system has fallen by 30%. We're investing millions of pounds over the next 3 years into community services like women centres, drug rehabilitation and accommodation support so fewer women end up in prison. The new facilities for women are an important step in taking forward the Female Offender Strategy aim to better conditions for women in custody that support effective rehabilitation. We must ensure that those women who need to be in custody are held in appropriate, decent and safe accommodation. This is why the design of our new accommodation will be trauma-informed and gender-specific, with the expectancy of improved outcomes for women. The new smaller communities of accommodation are specifically designed to be trauma-informed with visible aspects such as windows without bars, smaller units, better layouts, bigger association spaces being included, whereas dark, narrow corridors, blind corners and communal showers may trigger responses linked to sexual assault or abuse experience.

Offenders: Females

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the National Audit Office report, Improving Outcomes for Women in the Criminal Justice System, what steps his Department is taking to achieve the aim set out in the Female Offenders Strategy to reduce the number of women in prison and increase support in the community.

Victoria Atkins: We remain committed to the vision in the Female Offender Strategy, which set out the long-term framework to achieve better outcomes for female offenders that will take some years to deliver. Since publication in June 2018, the number of women entering the criminal justice system has fallen by 30%. We're investing millions of pounds over the next 3 years into community services like women’s centres, drug rehabilitation and accommodation support so fewer women end up in prison. We also have several initiatives underway to improve community sentencing options to tackle low-level offending, divert women from custody, and reduce reoffending. This includes several pilots such as the Residential women’s centre pilot, and plans to create a residential women's centre Pre-Sentence Report pilot that is targeting fuller reports for women.

Department for International Trade

Trade Agreements: Maldives

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of an Economic Partnership Agreement with the Republic of the Maldives; and if she will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Republic of the Maldives on strengthening trade ties with that country; and if she will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of an Economic Partnership Agreement with the Republic of the Maldives and their fishing methods for catching tuna for the UK’s commitment on sustainable fishing; and if she will make a statement.

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what representations she has received from UK businesses on a possible Economic Partnership Agreement with the Republic of the Maldives; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: The Maldives is a valued member of the Commonwealth and an important partner for the United Kingdom. HM Government is keen to cooperate with the Maldivian Government on trade opportunities that benefit people and businesses in both our countries. As the EU did not have any trade agreement with the Maldives, they could not be included in the United Kingdom’s trade continuity programme. Accordingly, whilst Maldivian access to the British market remains as it was prior to 1st January 2021, we will continue explore pragmatic options to enhance bilateral trade relations in areas of mutual interest, such as fishing. HM Government and the Maldives are contracting parties to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, where the United Kingdom is continuing to seek adoption of new measures for the protection of tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean. The United Kingdom’s strength in financial services means she is well placed to support the Maldives secure any necessary capital for sustainable development.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Development Aid: Nutrition

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the impact of the Government's lack of financial contribution at the recent Tokyo Nutrition for Growth summit on progress in the Government meeting its commitment to ending the preventable deaths of mothers, newborn babies and children by 2030.

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, for what reason the Government did not make a financial commitment at the recent Tokyo Nutrition for Growth summit.

Amanda Milling: The FCDO remains committed to tackling malnutrition as a fundamental part of HMG's commitment to ending preventable deaths. Our commitment at the Nutrition for Growth Summit to integrate nutrition objectives across all relevant FCDO programmes means that nutrition will play a key role in achieving our objectives on ending preventable deaths of mothers, babies and children, women and girls, humanitarian aid and global health and we will use the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nutrition policy marker to hold ourselves to account.The 2021 Spending Review concluded on 27 October 2021 and set departmental budgets for the next three financial years. The FCDO is currently working through an internal business planning exercise following this which will determine Official Development Assistance for nutrition programming. We are taking a number of steps to increase the impact of aid spending on nutrition and food systems, along with the promotion of nutrition objectives in other sectors.

Afghanistan: Refugees

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many people and their families were approved as special cases by (a) her Department, (b) the Home Office and (c) the Ministry of Defence to leave Afghanistan under ministerial directions in the run up to the UK's departure from Kabul.

James Cleverly: 'Special cases' can refer either to Category 4 of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), or to an arrangement by which, during the evacuation, FCDO Ministers, in consultation with Home Office and MoD Ministers, decided which cohorts of other especially vulnerable Afghans should be prioritised for military evacuation as and when flight capacity permitted under 'Leave Outside the Rules' (LOTR). The LOTR provision enabled the Government to offer evacuation to almost 1200 people who would otherwise have been unable to leave Afghanistan. In addition, some special cases were part of the ARAP cohort. However, as the ARAP application process does not enable distinction between categories of application, it is not possible to provide a definitive figure.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent estimate she has made of the number of covid-19 vaccine doses that the UK will donate to other countries in 2022.

Amanda Milling: Our G7 Presidency in 2021 secured agreement from leaders to commit to sharing at least 870 million doses by June 2022. The G7 has gone further since June, and donated 770 million doses by the end of 2021 and committed to donate an additional 1.2 billion doses.We have met the UK goal of donating 30 million doses by the end of 2021, as part of our G7 pledge to donate 100 million doses by June 2022. To date, the UK has delivered 23.3 million doses to countries in need of which 17.8 million have been delivered via COVAX and 5.5 million doses donated directly. A further 7.5 million doses have been received by COVAX and will shortly be allocated and shipped in line with COVAX's fair allocation model. The Prime Minister said at the G20 in October 2021 that we will donate 20 million further Astra Zeneca doses and 20 million Janssen doses to COVAX and we remain committed to meeting our 100 million pledge in full by June 2022.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what progress she has made with her international partners on ensuring a successful international covid-19 vaccination rollout in line with the capacity of national health systems.

Amanda Milling: The UK is committed to help bring the acute phase of the pandemic to an end and strongly supports the COVAX Facility as a key multilateral mechanism to deliver this. The UK is one of the largest donors to COVAX's Advance Market Commitment (AMC), committing £548 million to support global vaccination, and will donate 100 million vaccine doses by mid-2022. During the UK's G7 Presidency, Leaders committed to share and finance one billion doses, primarily through COVAX. We will build on these priorities with Germany and Indonesia as they take on the Presidencies of the G7 and G20 in 2022.COVAX and its Alliance partners work closely with governments to ensure robust and transparent distribution and reporting plans are in place to ensure priority groups are reached. The UK is an active member of the Gavi Board, which has agreed a new global co-ordinator and steering committee to support the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. The UK and COVAX partners are also working with countries to help health systems deliver vaccines. This includes engaging with communities and leaders to build trust, provide correct information, and encourage uptake.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many and what proportion of the (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation sponsored by (i) their Department or (ii) their predecessor Department has undergone a post legislative review in each of the last 10 years.

Amanda Milling: In the last 10 years the FCDO and its predecessor Departments have sponsored eight pieces of primary legislation. None of these pieces has undergone post legislative review.The number of post legislative reviews the Department has undertaken on secondary legislation in each of the last ten years is not held within the Department.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many pieces of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation their Department has sponsored in each of the last 10 years.

Amanda Milling: The number of pieces of both primary and secondary legislation sponsored by Government departments could be calculated utilising publicly available information. This information is not held within the Department.

China: Export Controls

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2021 to Question 88755 on Xinjiang: Export Controls, what progress the Government has made on (a) developing and (b) consulting on amendments to the Export Control Order 2008 to prevent the export of equipment for use by the Chinese military, police, or security forces, or entities acting on their behalf, in human rights violations in (i) Xinjiang Province and (ii) elsewhere.

Amanda Milling: Introducing the revised Military End-Use Control announced via Written Ministerial Statement on 8 December 2021 requires changes to the Export Control Order 2008. We are planning to make these changes through the normal Parliamentary process and expect them to come into force in Spring 2022.The enhanced Military End-Use Control will strengthen our ability to prevent the export of items that might be used directly or indirectly to facilitate human rights violations in all destinations subject to an arms embargo. This includes the export of goods, software or technology intended for use by the military, paramilitary, police, or security forces in any destination subject to an arms embargo.

China: Olympic Games

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions her Department has had with its Chinese counterparts on the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Amanda Milling: Since the Prime Minister's statement on 8 December, officials have reiterated to Chinese counterparts the announcement that no officials or ministers will represent the UK Government at the Beijing Winter Olympics and the reasons for this. We also engage closely with the Chinese authorities and Beijing Olympic Organising Committee in relation to the management and operation of the games, in support of the British Olympic Association.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information her Department holds on the number of covid-19 vaccine doses donated by the UK that have (a) been used, (b) been destroyed following expiry and (c) become unusable in other ways.

Amanda Milling: As of 21 January, the UK has delivered 23.3m doses to countries in need of which 17.8m have been delivered via COVAX. A further 7.5m doses have been received by COVAX and will shortly be allocated and shipped in line with COVAX's fair allocation model. COVAX works with governments to monitor equitable distribution, allocation, and delivery of vaccines in line with National Deployment and Vaccination Plans and the World Health Organisation's 'equitable allocation framework.' We also delivered 5.5m doses on a bilateral basis. We are monitoring the distribution of these vaccines.

China: Olympic Games

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the safety of athletes during the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Amanda Milling: We have provided specific advice to the British Olympic Association, including in respect of security, Chinese law and society, to ensure Team GB are as well prepared as possible for the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. We wish our athletes every success and they will continue to have our full support throughout the games. Officials in Beijing stand ready to provide consular assistance if needed.

Xinjiang: Genocide

Ms Nusrat Ghani: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the debate of 20 January 2022 on Judgment of the Uyghur Tribunal, whether the Government is taking steps to produce a risk assessment of the Xianjiang region in line with that debate's motion agreed by the House.

Amanda Milling: The FCDO continues to monitor the human rights situation in Xinjiang closely. This includes regular discussion and sharing of information with international partners, close monitoring of open source research, extensive commissioning and funding of research from relevant international experts on issues of concern and diplomatic reporting and analysis from our Embassy in Beijing and the wider FCDO network. This growing body of evidence and analysis will continue to inform FCDO and broader HMG policy in relation to Xinjiang, and underpin our robust diplomatic action and domestic policy response.

China: Lithuania

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government has taken steps to offer support to the Lithuanian government following the imposition of trade sanctions on that country by the government of the People’s Republic of China.

Amanda Milling: The Foreign Secretary has expressed public support for Lithuania and discussed how the UK can do so with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Landsbergis. China must live up to its international commitments and not engage in practices which seek to use economic means to harm other countries legitimate interests. The UK will work with international partners to respond to China's economic coercive practices, including with the G7 who set out their concerns on 12 December.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many post legislative reviews (a) their Department or (b) their predecessor Department has undertaken on (i) primary and (ii) secondary legislation in each of the last five years.

Amanda Milling: In the last five years the FCDO and its predecessor Departments sponsored two pieces of primary legislation. Neither Act has yet been subject to post legislative review. This information is only held for internal administrative reasons and may not be exhaustive, for example, due to machinery of government changes to departmental structure in the last five years.The number of post legislative reviews the Department has undertaken on secondary legislation in each of the last five years is not held within the Department.

Libya: Elections

Mr David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she is taking steps with her international counterparts to encourage early elections in Libya.

James Cleverly: The UK fully supports the UN-facilitated, Libyan led and owned political process. Successful, free, fair and inclusive elections will be a crucial step in this process, and the Libyan people have made it clear their aspirations to have a say in who governs them. The UK is working with Libyan and international partners - including the UN Secretary-General's Special Advisor Stephanie Williams and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya - to pursue this priority through an inclusive political process to support Libya's sovereignty and national unity and to put the country on a path towards sustained peace, security and prosperity.

Libya: Military Intervention

Mr David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government is taking steps together with international partners to encourage the disengagement of Russian and Turkish military forces from Libya.

James Cleverly: The UK is working with Libyan and international partners - including the UN Secretary-General's Special Advisor Stephanie Williams - to support Libya's sovereignty and national unity, and to put the country on a path to sustained peace, security and prosperity. In our engagement with external actors, we have been clear that the withdrawal of all foreign forces and mercenaries should happen without delay, as set out in the UK-led UN Security Council Resolution 2570, and that all external actors should implement the 20 October 2020 ceasefire agreement and the Action Plan agreed by the October 2021 5+5 Joint Military Committee Action Plan.

Russia: Tunisia

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the possibility of Russian (a) interference and (b) disinformation in Tunisia (i) at the last Presidential election and (ii) since that election.

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the possibility of Iranian interference in Tunisia (a) in the last Presidential election and (b) since that election.

James Cleverly: Successful Presidential and legislative elections in 2019 were important milestones in Tunisia's journey since the 2011 revolution. The British Embassy in Tunisia participated in election observation of Tunisia's 2019 Presidential elections, with international partners. We remain clear that free and fair elections and functioning democratic institutions are essential components of a democracy. We strongly support the people of Tunisia in their pursuit of effective, democratic, and transparent governance. The UK Government takes the issue of disinformation very seriously. Internationally, we actively support NGOs and other organisations in research to inform technology companies, partner governments and others about the misuse of online platforms for disinformation purposes, and to disrupt advertising revenues from websites.

Yazidis: Missing Persons

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps the Government is taking with its international counterparts to help trace missing Yazidi women.

James Cleverly: The UK supports the implementation of Iraq's Yazidi Survivors law of March 2021, which includes provisions to search for missing survivors. We engage regularly with partner Governments, NGOs, survivor networks and Iraqi Government ministries to advocate for full financial provision of the law. Through the FCDO's Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI) project funding, the UK is providing £70,000 to the International Organisation for Migration to provide technical and practical assistance to the Directorate of Yazidi Survivor Affairs, to ensure full implementation of the law. UK programme funding also supports psycho-social care for female survivors of conflict related sexual violence.

Iraq: Violence

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the accuracy of reports of an attack on Iraqi soldiers in the Al-Azim district, an area north of Baqouba in Diyala province, Iraq.

James Cleverly: The UK condemns the terrorist attack on the Army Headquarters in Diyala province that resulted in the death of at least 11 members of the Iraqi Security Forces. Our thoughts are with the families of those killed. On Monday 25 January, the United Kingdom joined fellow Security Council members in condemning the attack in the strongest terms, and reiterated Security Council support for the independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity, democratic process and prosperity of Iraq.This attack demonstrates that Daesh remains active. It is crucial that Iraq and the international community continue to work together to address this common threat. As a leading member of Global Coalition against Daesh, we continue to support Iraq in its fight to secure the lasting defeat of Daesh.

Tunisia: Politics and Government

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has plans to (a) monitor or observe the creation of a symposium of democrats in Tunisia, encompassing democrats from all parts of the political spectrum and (b) support those democrats in reaching conclusions on the best way to protect democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Tunisia.

James Cleverly: The UK is closely monitoring the political situation in Tunisia. I [Minister Cleverly] spoke to Tunisian Foreign Minister Jerandi on this subject on 11 August and on 23 October. Heads of Mission in Tunis issued joint statements on 6 September and 10 December setting out our position (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/g7-ambassadors-in-tunisia-issue-joint-statement-6-september-2021 and https://www.gov.uk/government/news/heads-of-mission-joint-statement-on-tunisia-10-december-2021)We strongly support the people of Tunisia in their pursuit of effective, democratic, and transparent governance. We have called for continued public commitment to and respect for all Tunisians' civil, political, social and economic rights, and to the rule of law.

Bahrain: Human Rights

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to highlight the allegations of human rights violations in Bahrain.

James Cleverly: Bahrain is a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office human rights priority country. We regularly raise human rights issues and individual cases with senior members of the Government of Bahrain, as well as with the independent human rights oversight bodies. We encourage those with concerns to raise them directly with the relevant oversight bodies. Our annual Human Rights Report, published last in July 2021 contains our most recent assessment -https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/human-rights-and-democracy-report-2020

Noureddine Bhiri

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has made representations to the Tunisian Government on access to family and legal representation for the former Justice Minister, Noureddine Bhiri, following his arrest on 31 December 2021; and if she will call on that Government to either bring specific legal charges against him or release him from detention.

James Cleverly: We are aware of the arrest of former Justice Minister, Noureddine Bhiri, and are closely monitoring the case. We have publicly stated the importance of respect for all Tunisians' fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, and we reiterate these points privately with the Tunisian Government.

Developing Countries: Education

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans she has to track progress towards achieving the two global targets on girls’ education endorsed by G7 leaders in June 2021.

Vicky Ford: We have committed to publish an annual report tracking progress against the two new global objectives, in collaboration with UNESCO and the UN Girls' Education Initiative. The report is due to be published in the summer of 2022 and annually will highlight the progress that low- and middle-income countries have made in getting 40 million more girls into school and 20 million more girls reading by the age of 10, as well as demonstrating the obstacles that are still to be overcome.

Burkina Faso: Sanctions

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the risk that, in the event that sanctions are imposed by regional or continental bodies on the emerging military regime in Burkina Faso following the coup of 23 January 2022, military regimes in (a) Mali and (b) Guinea cooperate to limit the efficacy of those sanctions; and what steps she is taking to support regional and continental bodies in planning for that risk.

Vicky Ford: We are working closely with partners to assess and mitigate the risks surrounding recent coups, and to support our overall objective of security and stability in the region. As I set out in my statement on 25 January 2022, the UK condemns the coup d'etat by military forces in Burkina Faso. We are working with partners to encourage a swift, peaceful and constructive resolution to events. Dialogue between all parties is required to tackle insecurity across Burkina Faso, and respond to the needs of the Burkinabe people.On both Guinea and Mali we support the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) mediation efforts. We have condemned the removal by force of the President of Guinea, Alpha Condé, in a coup in September 2021, and we continue to call on the transitional authorities in Mali to prepare for elections without delay. We have called on all parties to engage in peaceful dialogue to ease tensions, prevent any further violence and uphold democratic principles, including the rule of law. We will continue to monitor the situation and engage with international and regional partners, including ECOWAS.

Religious Freedom: Sanctions

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent progress she has made on sanctioning perpetrators of freedom of religion or belief abuses.

Vicky Ford: The UK is committed to defending freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) for all, and promoting respect between different religious and non-religious communities. Promoting the right to FoRB is one of the UK's longstanding human rights priorities. In addition to our bilateral and multilateral work, we use our Global Human Rights sanctions regime to hold to account those involved in serious human rights violations or abuses around the world, including those carried out against individuals on the basis of their religion or belief.On 10 December 2021, we used this regime to designate Furqan Bangalzai, a former commander of terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Jhangvi for his role in orchestrating the 2017 bombing of a Sufi shrine, which killed over 70 people in Pakistan. On 22 March 2021, alongside the EU, US and Canada, we imposed sanctions on four senior Chinese government officials and one entity for gross human rights violations taking place against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. We will continue to draw on our range of levers to address FoRB abuses and violations, including sanctions where appropriate.

Belarus: International Criminal Law

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if the Government will raise at the UN the reporting of the regime in Belarus to the International Criminal Court to investigate the Lukashenko regime in respect of (a) torture allegations as documented by the International Accountability Platform for Belarus, (b) the interception of RyanAir Flight FR4978 in May 2021 and (c) the recent immigrant crisis on the Poland-Belarus border.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The UK has been clear in its condemnation of the Belarusian regime's harmful and aggressive behaviour, including the continued repression of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Belarus. There is not an international body where we would not be willing to exert our influence and lead on applying pressure to the Lukashenko regime. We continue to support efforts through UN and other international mechanisms, and the work of independent NGOs, to investigate human rights violations in Belarus and hold those responsible to account. We have received the final fact-finding investigation report from the International Civil Aviation Organisation into the forced diversion of Ryanair flight 4978, which we are studying carefully. We remain in solidarity with our Polish and Lithuanian counterparts and will continue to work to counter the behaviour of the Lukashenko regime, including the use of migrant flows to exert pressure on Belarus' neighbours.

Somaliland: Politics and Government

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies on (a) the status of Somaliland and (b) engagement with that country of the decision of the elected authorities in Somaliland to suspend the dialogue process with the government of Somalia.

Vicky Ford: The UK - in line with the rest of the international community - does not recognise Somaliland as an independent state. Our policy remains that it is for Somaliland and the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) to come to an agreement about their future relationship and for neighbours in the region and the African Union to take the lead in recognising any new arrangements. We continue to support and encourage a meaningful dialogue between the FGS and Somaliland Government.The UK is nevertheless proud to be a leading partner of Somaliland. We have supported and will continue to support, peace, stability and democracy in Somaliland and our co-operation with the authorities there is greatly valued. For a decade, we have been the only Western bilateral donor with a permanent diplomatic mission in Hargeisa. In addition, our Ambassador and officials based in the region make regular visits and engage at the highest levels. UK assistance in Somaliland is also significant, supporting security, enhancing stability and promoting economic, human and social development.

Falkland Islands: Sovereignty

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to respond to the Government of Argentina's November 2021 statement on reopening negotiations on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

Vicky Ford: The United Kingdom Government has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands nor do we have any doubt about the principle and the right of self-determination for the Falkland Islanders, as enshrined in the UN Charter and in article one of the two UN Covenants on human rights. In 2013 the Falkland Islands Government held a referendum on continuing their current constitutional links to the United Kingdom: 99.8% of those who voted wanted to maintain their current status as a self-governing Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom. This made clear that the people of the Islands do not want negotiations on sovereignty. We continue to make our position clear to the Government of Argentina, most recently on 29 and 30 November when our Ambassador in Buenos Aires met Argentine Foreign Minister Cafiero and the Argentine Secretary covering South Atlantic issues, respectively.

Developing Countries: Education

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what specific steps her Department has taken to advance the two global targets for girls’ education since those targets were endorsed at the G7 in June 2021.

Vicky Ford: We have built on the momentum of the G7 and UK-hosted Global Education Summit to push forward progress on girls' education. At COP26, we shone a spotlight on the links between education and climate and called for countries to prioritise early learning in their efforts to mitigate climate change. In Afghanistan, the UK has called for girls' right to secondary education to be restored, and UK humanitarian funds are helping provide safe spaces for learning for 38,000 displaced children, including 28,000 girls.As of mid-December, more than 647 million school children were still affected by partial or full school closures. Ministers are pressing national governments to reopen schools as a matter of priority, while our bilateral education programmes and flagship Girls' Education Challenge continue to support children to catch-up on the learning they have lost. On 26 January, the UK helped launch a new report by the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel focused on recovering children's education.

West Africa: Security

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment has she made of the (a) security and (b) political stability in West Africa following recent coups d'etat in that region.

Vicky Ford: The UK Government routinely monitors and assesses security and political dynamics across West Africa. We are concerned by the deteriorating situation across the Sahel, and the tangible impact this has on security across the West Africa region. We have joined the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union and international partners to condemn recent coups, including in Burkina Faso this month, in Guinea in September 2021, and in Mali in May 2021. We support regional mediation efforts and call for the return to democratic, civilian and constitutional rule without delay.In a call with President Brou on 19 November 2021 I was able to set out the UK's continued support for ECOWAS' efforts. It is vital that across the region all parties engage in peaceful dialogue to ease tensions, prevent any further violence, respect human rights, and uphold democratic principles including the rule of law. We continue to work with our international partners to address the implications of these coups and to monitor each situation closely.

Tonga: Tsunami

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps has she taken to support UK aid distribution to people impacted by the tsunami in Tonga.

Vicky Ford: The UK is providing vital humanitarian support to Tonga. Working closely with our Australian and New Zealand partners, we have provided 17 pallets of supplies, which were delivered by Australia's HMAS Adelaide today (26 January). These supplies were specifically requested by the Government of Tonga and include 90 family tents, community tents and wheel barrows.Royal Navy ship, HMS Spey, has also delivered (26 January) supplies in support of the humanitarian and disaster relief effort, including: 30,000 litres of bottled water, medical supplies for over 300 first aid kits, PPE, and basic sanitation and baby products. This was a contactless delivery, guided by the Government of Tonga's COVID-19 protocols.The UK is also funding a UN crisis response coordinator, who will be deployed to support coordination of the response. The UK is a significant donor to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (£1.5 million per year 2020-2023), which has released £345,000 to the Red Cross Society of Tonga to support its response to assist the affected communities. More generally, since 2015, Tonga has received over £25.9 million of UK aid through our core funding to multilateral institutions.

Burkina Faso: Security

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the security and political stability of Burkina Faso following the recent coup in that country.

Vicky Ford: The UK is deeply concerned about the deteriorating security and political situation in Burkina Faso. As I [Minister Ford] set out in my statement on 25 January 2022, the UK condemns the coup d'etat by military forces in Burkina Faso, and calls for the immediate, safe and unconditional release of all members of the civilian government who have been detained, including the President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. It is vital that all parties remain calm and respect human rights, and for Burkina Faso to return to democratic civilian and constitutional rule without delay. We are monitoring the political and security situation closely, and working with partners to encourage a swift, peaceful and constructive resolution to events. Dialogue between all parties is required to tackle insecurity across Burkina Faso, and respond to the needs of the Burkinabe people.Through our deployment to the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA), our deployment of Chinook helicopters to the French counter-terrorism mission Barkhane, and our programmatic support for stabilisation and conflict resolution, the UK is working to build long-term peace and stability in the Sahel. We also provide humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable in the region, including in Burkina Faso.

Commonwealth: Education

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans she has to take steps with the government of Rwanda to encourage each Commonwealth country to sign the Kenyatta Declaration on education, announced at the 2021 Global Education Summit hosted by the UK and Kenya.

Vicky Ford: The UK looks forward to the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) being held in Kigali, on a new date agreed by the Commonwealth Family. The UK is in regular touch with the Government of Rwanda (CHOGM host) and the Commonwealth Secretariat on preparations for CHOGM; we look forward to Leaders' endorsement of an ambitious package of commitments in due course.The UK and Kenya co-hosted the Global Education Summit, in London in July 2021, which raised over $4 billion in pledges to help transform education for some of the world's most vulnerable children. In addition, 19 countries signed the Kenyatta declaration, thereby committing to protect, extend and improve their domestic financing to education. The UK will continue to encourage all Global Partnership for Education (GPE) partner countries, including in the Commonwealth, to prioritise domestic education spend.

Developing Countries: Education

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans she has to track progress towards achieving the two global targets on girls’ education endorsed by G7 leaders in June 2021.

Vicky Ford: We have committed to publish an annual report tracking progress against the two new global objectives, in collaboration with UNESCO and the UN Girls' Education Initiative. The report is due to be published in the summer of 2022 and annually will highlight the progress that low- and middle-income countries have made in getting 40 million more girls into school and 20 million more girls reading by the age of 10, as well as demonstrating the obstacles that are still to be overcome.

Developing Countries: Education

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she plans to take to monitor progress towards the two global targets on girls’ education endorsed by G7 leaders in 2021.

Vicky Ford: We have committed to publish an annual report tracking progress against the two new global objectives, in collaboration with UNESCO and the UN Girls' Education Initiative. The report is due to be published in the summer of 2022 and annually will highlight the progress that low- and middle-income countries have made in getting 40 million more girls into school and 20 million more girls reading by the age of 10, as well as demonstrating the obstacles that are still to be overcome.

Sahel: Foreign Relations

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2022 to Question 107529, whether her Department has plans for an appointment of a new UK Special Envoy for the Sahel within the next six months.

Vicky Ford: As previously stated in the response to PQ 107529, we have continuously had a Special Envoy for the Sahel since December 2018. A new Envoy was appointed in January this year.

Summit for Democracy: Non-governmental Organisations

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which non-governmental organisations and individuals were formally consulted by the Government as part of preparations for the Summit for Democracy 2021.

Vicky Ford: The UK Government hosted four formal engagement sessions with civil society in the run up to the first, virtual Summit on 9-10 December, with support from BOND (www.bond.org.uk), the UK network for organisations working in international development and the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition. The first session was led by Lord Ahmad, Minister of State for South and Central Asia, UN and the Commonwealth, and Paul Williams, Director for Open Societies and Human Rights at FCDO. In a conversation with over 20 Civil Society Organisation (CSO) representatives, they outlined the UK's anticipated approach to the Summit, including participating at the Summit and related side events. This initial session was then followed up with three, more detailed discussions - each attended by 20 or more CSO representatives - on the Summit's main themes: Fighting Corruption; Defending Against Authoritarianism; and Advancing Human Rights.

Crimes against Humanity

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, which team within her Department has responsibility for identifying early warning signs of atrocity crimes; and if she will publish the criteria that team uses to make such an assessment.

Vicky Ford: The team leading on atrocity prevention in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's United Nations and Multilateral Department shares the following with their geographic departments to help them formulate policy in response to atrocity risks:Reporting from the United Nations (UN). Non-sensitive reports are available on the internet;Countries at Risk of Instability (CRI);US Holocaust Memorial Museum Early Warning Project and other reports available in the public domain from Non-Governmental Organisations;Analysis and assessments shared between Member States, at the UN and international fora.The CRI process involves a quantitative and qualitative process to calculate a country's risk of instability by assessing the pressure on a country's government and the resilience of its institutions to withstand further pressures. It uses over 80 indicators including respect for human rights, respect for the law, displacement and political stability. It is an internal document for HMG use and there are no plans to publish the criteria.

Belarus: Politics and Government

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what her policy is on (a) the legitimacy of the presidency of Mr Lukashenko and (b) UK recognition of any international agreements which the Lukashenko regime has entered into.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The UK has never accepted the results of the 2020 Belarusian Presidential election, which was neither free nor fair. We support the findings in Professor Benedek's November 2020 report to the OSCE that the processes of the election were fraudulent and the results falsified. As such, Lukashenko's claim to the Presidency lacks legitimacy. We continue to call on the Belarusian regime to hold new elections that are free and fair, meet international standards, and are subject to independent local and international observation. It is the longstanding policy of the UK to recognise states, not governments or individuals.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces Compensation Scheme

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether previous mental health assessments undertaken while a veteran was serving in the armed forces are taken into account by Veterans UK medical assessors when veterans are making a claim under the War Pensions or Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

Leo Docherty: A Veterans UK Medical Advisor's role is to provide advice and guidance based upon pre-existing medical evidence which is used to determine the level of disablement in accordance with the relevant compensation scheme rules. As such, all medical evidence in-service and out of service is taken into account.

Veterans: Medical Examinations

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what mental health qualifications are required from Veterans UK medical assessors tasked with giving assessments on issues relating to veterans' mental health.

Leo Docherty: Veterans UK Medical Advisers (MA) are not involved in the diagnosis, care or treatment of War Pension or Armed Forces Compensation scheme claimants. A Veterans UK MA's role is to provide advice and guidance based upon pre-existing medical evidence which is used to determine the level of disablement in accordance with the relevant compensation scheme rules.I also refer the hon. Member to my previous answer to Question 106792 provided on 24 January 2022.When Medical Advisors are recruited the professional qualifications required are:Valid licence to practice medicine in UKRegistration with the GMCCurrent re-validation certificateVeterans UK (docx, 15.3KB)

Nuclear Submarines: Deployment

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2022 to Question 104310 on Nuclear Submarines: Deployment, whether at least one Royal Navy nuclear armed submarine at sea since 1969 was always submerged; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Quin: The Government does not disclose operational information about Royal Navy submarines, as to do so could prejudice the capability, effectiveness, or security of the Armed Forces.

Armed Forces Compensation Scheme

Dame Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will base the Guaranteed Income Payment (GIP) on the person's final salary at the end of service rather than their age.

Leo Docherty: Calculation of an individual's Guaranteed Income Payment (GIP) takes a number of factors into consideration. The GIP calculation takes account of both salary and age in determining the lifelong loss of earnings the individual is likely to face, both salary and pension, as a result of their service-caused injury or injuries. It also includes an enhancement for lost future military promotions. This calculation enables the department to provide a payment that not only recognises final salary but also loss of future potential earnings.

War Pensions: Payments

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his target is for the average amount of time it takes between an eligible individual applying to the war pension scheme and that applicant receiving their first payment under that scheme.

Leo Docherty: The time taken to process an application for a War Pension claim is spent assessing the eligibility and entitlement of the claimant. When a War Pension claim is received it is necessary to obtain Service evidence, medical records, case notes from the claimant's General Practitioner and details of any hospital treatment, and a self-assessment form. Once all the required evidence is available, each claim is seen by a medical adviser who will take all factors into account when determining the correct decision for each individual. All cases are dealt with in strict date order. There is no delay in making payments once an eligibility and entitlement decision is reached. The target for processing war pension claims is an average clearance time of 127 working days.

War Pensions: Payments

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he will take to improve the timeliness of payments of the war pension scheme for armed forces veterans.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he expects delays in the payment of the war pension scheme to end.

Leo Docherty: There is no delay in making payments once an eligibility and entitlement decision is reached.The return to office in 2021 significantly increased operational capacity and the implementation of a recovery plan has seen a significant reduction in holdings. A return to Key Performance Indicators is expected for the War Pensions Scheme claims in February 2022. Veterans UK is also currently embarked on a £40 million programme to digitalise its services which remain paper centric. This will improve the customer experience, speed up processing and reduce cost.

War Pensions: Payments

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason there are delays in payments of the war pension scheme for all eligible claimants.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reason there are delays in payment of the war pension scheme for new pension claimants.

Leo Docherty: There is no delay in making payments once an eligibility and entitlement decision is reached. All claims and appeals are considered as quickly as possible so as not to cause undue stress and concerns to individuals. A decision made in the Upper Tribunal in 2018, requiring a much fuller explanation of how decisions were arrived at to be recorded, both for new cases and thousands of retrospective cases, meant a significant increase in workload prior to the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 then led to further delays, particularly given the dependencies on third parties for the provision of medical information and assessments (such as from hospitals and GPs). Social distancing requirements led to a reduced number of Veterans UK staff able to attend the office in person and process casework, including requests for new claims, reviews, reconsiderations, and appeals.

Ministry of Defence: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many pieces of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation their Department has sponsored in each of the last 10 years.

Leo Docherty: The Ministry of Defence has introduced seven pieces of primary legislation in the last decade. These Acts include, in order of receipt of Royal Assent:Armed Forces Act 2021Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Act 2021Armed Forces (Flexible Working) Act 2018Armed Forces Act 2016Armed Forces (Service Complaints and Financial Assistance) Act 2015Defence Reform Act 2014Armed Forces Act 2011The number of pieces of secondary legislation sponsored by Government departments, including the Ministry of Defence could be calculated utilising publicly available information. This information is not held within the Department.

Veterans UK

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what independent oversight Veterans UK is subject to.

Leo Docherty: I refer the hon.Member to my answer to Question 102708 answered on 19 January 2022.Defence Busines Services (DBS) is overseen by a Corporate Board with a majority of non-executive members chaired by an independent non-executive director. DBS is subject to regular Performance and Risk Reviews overseen by the MOD's Chief Operating Officer.Sitting underneath the Corporate Board are a number of delivery boards, including one which monitors the performance of Veterans UK services. Representatives from the Office for Veterans' Affairs are invited to this delivery board and at the most recent Veterans Advisory Board chaired by the Rt Hon Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, work to improve the services provided by Veterans UK was discussed.Veterans UK (docx, 18.6KB)

York: Military Bases

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential (a) social and (b) economic effects of the closure of the (i) Queen Elizabeth Barracks, (ii) Towthorpe Lines and (ii) Imphal Barracks on York.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the military site closures in York on levels of employment in (a) local military facilities that will remain open and (b) the local area.

Jeremy Quin: The Ministry of Defence has a requirement to deliver its defence tasks as efficiently as possible and where sites are no longer required this includes their disposal. Individual social/economic assessments are not routinely conducted as part of this, however, the Department continues to work closely with local authorities to determine the impact of these decisions on local communities and how we can release surplus military sites for meaningful future use.

Strategic Command

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the role is of the Chief of Defence and Logistics Support within StratCom.

Jeremy Quin: The Chief of Defence and Logistics Support (CDLS) is the Functional Owner for Support, with authority to drive the coherence and performance of Support across Defence. CDLS is also the Head of the Defence Support organisation that sits within Strategic Command. The Defence Support organisation is a key enabler of CDLS’s responsibilities as the Functional Owner for Support.

Military Aid: Coronavirus

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support military personnel are providing to the covid-19 booster vaccination roll-out (a) domestically and (b) internationally.

James Heappey: As at 24 January 2022, there were 662 Armed Forces personnel supporting the vaccination booster programme across the UK.Internationally, we are currently focussed on offering the booster to our people based overseas. We are currently not supporting the booster programmes of other countries.

Animal Welfare: Afghanistan

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he authorised the evacuation of animals within Pen Farthing's Nowzad Shelter in Afghanistan.

James Heappey: As stated by the Defence Secretary, at the 25 January session of the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC); a plane charted by supporters of Pen Farthing's Nowzad Shelter was given clearance to land and depart with its intended cargo in a landing slot booked by UK military air staff within the Qatar based Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC).This clearance was given subject to; the animal's evacuation not interfering with military operations, not interfering with the evacuation of people, or requiring that they 'jump the queue'. As such their evacuation took place on 28 August once the civilian evacuation had ended and in parallel with the final stages of the military withdrawal.The UK was clear with allies and partners, including the US, that our operation would prioritise people over animals at all stages of the evacuation, with any animal evacuation taking place only at the very last stages of military operation.

HMS Argyll: Decommissioning

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2022 to Question 106869 on HMS Argyll: Decommissioning, on what date HMS Argyll will be retired, incrementally as part of the Type 23 retirement program.

Jeremy Quin: On current plans, the last Type 23 frigate will transition out of service in 2035.The Ministry of Defence does not routinely disclose the individual out of service dates of its warships to avoid revealing elements of the Fleet's long term schedule, and thus compromising operational security.

HMS Valiant: Decommissioning

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2022 to Question 107718 on Submarines: Decommissioning, on what date Valiant will be decommissioned.

Jeremy Quin: A demonstrator submarine is being used to define and refine the dismantling process now taking place at Rosyth dockyard. As that programme of work progresses, the outcomes will provide more certainty on the dates when dismantling of the Devonport-based submarines will start.

Department for Work and Pensions

Cost of Living

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support families who are not entitled to tax credits and whose wages have not risen to manage (a) energy costs and (b) the cost of living.

David Rutley: The UK has a strong welfare safety net that supports people whether they are in or out of work through Universal Credit and the legacy benefits it is replacing including tax credits, Employment and Support Allowance and income-based Jobseeker's Allowance. In 2021/22, DWP will spend around £110bn on welfare benefits for people of working age. As our economic recovery continues and with around 1.25 million vacancies across the UK there are many further opportunities for people to move into and progress in work and increase their earnings. Building on our Plan for Jobs, we launched ‘Way to Work on 27 January, a new campaign to help more people into work by matching jobseekers to the thousands of jobs available across the country. We understand the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. We are providing support worth around £12bn this financial year and the next, to help families - changing the Universal Credit taper and work allowance which means, nearly two million households will keep, on average, £1000 a year, freezing fuel duties to keep costs down, and providing targeted support to help households with their energy bills. For the lowest earners we are further increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 from April 2022, meaning a full-time worker on the National Living Wage will see their annual earnings rise by over £1,000; we have set a target for the National Living Wage to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, provided economic conditions allow. We recognise that some people require extra support over the winter, which is why vulnerable households across the country can access the £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive)

Personal Independence Payment: Telephone Services

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time is for customers calling the personal independence payment line.

Chloe Smith: Wait times for customers needing to make a new claim to PIP remain low with customers, on average, waiting 4 mins and 59 seconds. Call traffic to the PIP Telephony Enquiry Line fluctuates across the day; the average speed of answer, based on the previous three months, is 23 mins and 30 seconds. Customers calling to register a PIP Mandatory Reconsideration can expect to wait an average of 3 minutes and 2 seconds.

Social Security Benefits: Coronavirus

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people affected by administrative errors made by her Department which led to financial hardship for claimants in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England during the covid-19 outbreak.

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people affected by administrative errors made by her Department which led to the overpayment of benefits in (a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England during the covid-19 outbreak.

David Rutley: The Department does not hold Official Error data, or details of subsequent hardships requests for a reduction in the rate of repayment, by geographical area.

Food Poverty: Disability

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of disabled people living in food poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

Chloe Smith: In 2021/22, we are spending £59 billion supporting disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, the highest ever level. The latest statistics for 2019/20 show rates of absolute poverty, both before and after housing costs, for individuals living in disabled families are down since 2009/10.We are working to make sure that money spent on supporting disabled people and people with health conditions has a positive impact on their lives and we want to go further to support and empower disabled people and people with health conditions. Following the publication of Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, published last year, we are actively considering changes that we could introduce to improve support for disabled people and people with health conditions. We will bring forward our proposals in a White Paper later this year

Personal Independence Payment: Telephone Services

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce waiting times on the personal independence payment helplines.

Chloe Smith: Telephone calls remain the primary contact method for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) customers. Call traffic has increased significantly on the PIP enquiry line and during particularly busy periods there have been longer wait times than we would like. We have deployed additional resources onto the enquiry line, including recruitment of more staff. Additionally, we have introduced new technology that will improve information for customers when they first call, and simplified the identity and verification process. These enhancements will increase call handling efficiency and improve the customer experience. We are also developing new and better SMS messages to keep customers up to date and better informed. This will reduce the need for customers to contact the PIP enquiry line.

Department for Work and Pensions: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pieces of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation their Department has sponsored in each of the last 10 years.

Guy Opperman: The number of pieces of both primary and secondary legislation sponsored by Government departments could be calculated utilising publicly available information. This information is not held within the Department.

Children: Maintenance

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many deductions of earnings orders were issued by the Child Maintenance Service to employers other than the Ministry of Defence for the purpose of collecting child maintenance in each of the last three years.

Guy Opperman: This information is not collated as part of normal business and is only available at disproportionate cost to the Department. The Department publishes quarterly Child Maintenance Service (CMS) statistics, with the latest statistics available to the end of September 2021, here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-statistics-data-to-september-2021-experimental

Children: Maintenance

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many deductions of earnings requests were issued by the Child Maintenance Service to the Ministry of Defence's Defence Business Services for the purpose of collecting child maintenance in each of the last three years.

Guy Opperman: This information is not collated as part of normal business and is only available at disproportionate cost to the Department. The Department publishes quarterly Child Maintenance Service (CMS) statistics, with the latest statistics available to the end of September 2021, here:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-statistics-data-to-september-2021-experimental

Food Poverty

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has a timeframe for ending food poverty.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to end food poverty.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to make the need to use food banks obsolete.

David Rutley: Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation. There is no consistent and accurate measure of food bank usage at a constituency or national level. This Government is wholly committed to supporting low-income families, including through spending over £110 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2021/22 and by increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 from April 2022. With the success of the vaccine rollout and record job vacancies, our focus now is on continuing to support people into and to progress in work. Our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects. In addition, Universal Credit recipients in work are now benefitting from a reduction in the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%, while eligible in-work claimants can also benefit from changes to the Work Allowance. These measures represent, for the lowest paid in society, an effective tax cut of around £2.2 Billion in 2022-23, and are now benefitting almost two million of the lowest paid workers by £1000 a year on average. We recognise that some people require extra support over the winter, which is why vulnerable households across the country are now able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula applies in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million. To support low income families further we have increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins, and we are also investing over £200m a year from 2022 to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all English LAs. We take the issue of food security seriously, which is why we added internationally used food security questions to the Family Resources Survey in 2019/20 and published the data in March this year. These questions allow us to track food security over time. Statistics on household food security from the Family Resources Survey for the financial year 2021/22 have a provisional release date of March 2023, subject to the usual quality assurance.

Employment and Support Allowance: Underpayments

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she will be able to provide hon. Members with sub-national data on people who have been affected by the underpayment of benefits after transitioning from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance.

Chloe Smith: The Department published an update on the exercise to correct past ESA underpayments on Gov.uk on 8 July 2021. This reported that as of 1 June 2021, of the 600,000 cases checked, 118,000 arrears payments have been made totalling £613 million. This report showed the numbers of cases paid arrears at a national level only as the data was not available at sub-national level at that time. The Department is investigating the feasibility of providing this analysis at a constituency level and will pre-announce any upcoming publication in line with normal statistical practices.

Disability: Employment

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy published 28 July 2021, what recent progress her Department has made towards the introduction of a new approach to conditionality for disabled people and people with health conditions, which aims to enable an honest and open conversation between a person and their work coach about what they can do.

Chloe Smith: A staged roll out of a new approach to conditionality for disabled claimants and claimants with health conditions went live in January 2021 and was completed in December 2021. It began with claimants who made a claim to Universal Credit (UC) and/or New Style Employment Support Allowance (NS ESA) between March to July 2020. Thereafter, rolling out to all claimants on the UC health journey, and/or NS ESA.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is her Department's policy that claimants with verified progressive neurological conditions can be exempted from health-related social security medical assessments.

Chloe Smith: Awards of the health and disability related benefits are not made based on a person’s condition or diagnosis but rather on how their condition limits their abilities. People can have very differing circumstances so we have developed assessments which are designed to measure the impact of a person’s health condition or disability on their work-related or daily living needs, including the level at which they should be paid. In Sept 2017 the Department introduced Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC) for Employment and Support Allowance and the health component of Universal Credit. This stops unnecessary reassessments for those with the most severe and lifelong conditions. In 2018, we introduced new guidance on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments which ensures that claimants on the highest level of support whose needs will not improve receive an ongoing award of PIP with a light touch review at the 10-year point. Where a claimant is nearing the end of their life they are able to claim benefits under the Special Rules for Terminal illness (SRTI). The SRTI provide access to benefit without waiting periods. Awards are made on the basis of a paper-based assessment and claimants usually receive the highest rates of benefit. The Department announced that it would replace the current 6-month rule for determining eligibility for the Special Rules for Terminal Illness with a 12-month, end of life approach. The Shaping Future Support: Health and Disability Green Paper published 20th July 2021, explored the possibility of testing a new Severe Disability Group for those with severe and lifelong conditions to access ESA/UC and PIP. This could simplify the process by removing the need for a long form or a face-to-face assessment for this group and build on existing provision such as Severe Conditions and Special Rules for Terminal Illness.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost to her Department of tribunals for employment and support allowance and personal independence payment benefits claims in (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2020-21.

Chloe Smith: The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of suspending the rule stopping personal independence payment, disability living allowance and attendance allowance after a 28 day stay in hospital during the covid-19 pandemic.

Chloe Smith: We have no plans to change these rules. Once someone is discharged from hospital, payment of these benefits recommences from the date of discharge.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Clean Air Zones: Greater Manchester

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will provide details of engagements he (a) has had and (b) plans to have with representatives of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority regarding the implementation of the Clean Air Zone in Greater Manchester; and what additional economic transitional support the Government plans to bring forward to support businesses, in the context of the effect of covid-19 on the supply of new vehicles.

Jo Churchill: We have regular engagement with Transport for Greater Manchester and the Greater Manchester Councils on the implementation of the Clean Air Plan at all levels, and are continuing to do so.We have provided a substantial £132 million from the Clean Air Fund to Greater Manchester authorities to help businesses and individuals upgrade to compliant vehicles. This is on top of providing £36 million to enable the implementation of the Clean Air Zone. The HGV support scheme has recently opened for applications but the remaining funds have not yet been spent. We are aware that Greater Manchester has proposed a review of funds and we continue to engage with them on the evidence.

Veterinary Medicine: Regulation

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 September 2021 to Question 51897, what the timescale is for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to provide recommendations on the overhaul of the disciplinary framework and fitness to practice regime.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is undertaking a review of the disciplinary framework and fitness to practice regime.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government last reviewed the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 September 2021 to Question 51897, whether the Government has agreed terms of reference for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons review of the disciplinary framework and fitness to practice regime.

Jo Churchill: The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) recently carried out a root-and-branch review of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 (last reviewed in 2008) and the role of the RCVS as the veterinary regulator, with the aim of ensuring public protection, animal health and welfare and regulatory best practice. The terms of reference were not set by or agreed with the Government. The review aimed to design a modern, fit for purpose framework comparable to other professional regulators, including a modern fitness to practice regime. The RCVS provided its recommendations to Defra Ministers in September 2021. Defra Ministers are considering these recommendations and welcome the content and consideration provided by the RCVS.

Air Pollution: Children

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of nitrogen oxide levels on children’s health as at 26 January 2022.

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of current levels of fine particulate matter PM2.5 on children’s health.

Jo Churchill: We know air pollution is a particular threat to vulnerable groups, including children. Our Clean Air Strategy sets out an ambitious programme of action to reduce air pollution from a wide range of sources. Our Environment Act also makes a clear commitment to set ambitious targets for fine particulate matter, the pollutant of most concern for human health. The Government receives objective and independent advice from a number of air pollution and health experts on the impact of pollution on health, in particular the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants which keeps emerging evidence under regular review. We also receive advice from the UK Health Security Agency and the Department for Health and Social Care.

Air Pollution

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the President of COP26's oral contribution of 1 December 2021, Official Report, column 907, if he will publish (a) the scientific data in support of his statement that air pollution has reduced significantly since 2010 and (b) a breakdown of that data by levels of (i) nitrogen dioxide, (b) coarse particulate matter and (c) fine particulate matter.

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the evidential basis that substantiates the statement made by his Department's spokesperson and reported in September 2022 that (a) air pollution has reduced significantly since 2010 and (b) at a national level emissions of fine particulate matter have fallen by 11 per cent, while emissions of nitrogen oxides are at their lowest level since records began.

Jo Churchill: Emissions of key air pollutants are compiled and reported by Defra on an annual basis through the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory and the data for nitrogen oxides and both coarse and fine particulate matter is available to view at https://naei.beis.gov.uk/data. The data for 2010 and all years up to 2019 is available from this website. The National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory is also used as the basis for the National Statistics report ‘Emissions of air pollutants in the UK’ which describes the trends in emissions of air pollutants over time. The latest report, published February 2021, is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/emissions-of-air-pollutants.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many pieces of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation their Department has sponsored in each of the last 10 years.

Victoria Prentis: (a) The number of pieces of primary legislation sponsored by Defra over each of the past ten years is publicly available and can be calculated using the Parliament.uk website (https://bills.parliament.uk/). (b) The number of statutory instruments introduced by Defra over each of the past ten years is publicly available and can be calculated using the Defra Lex website (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/defralex). This information may not be exhaustive, for example, due to machinery of government changes to departmental structure in the past decade.

Property Development: Land Drainage

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to implement Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act to require the implementation of sustainable drainage systems for new developments.

Rebecca Pow: The Government is currently undertaking a review of the case for implementing Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010. The review will report in 2022.

Economic Partnership Agreements: Maldives

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for International Trade regarding the potential merits to the UK’s commitment on sustainable fishing of an Economic Partnership Agreement with the Republic of the Maldives; and if he will make a statement.

Victoria Prentis: Defra and DIT officials work closely together on trade negotiations. The Republic of the Maldives did not have a trade agreement (a Free Trade Agreement or a development-focused Economic Partnership Agreement), with the EU, and therefore, the UK could not include the Maldives as part of its continuity programme. We currently trade on World Trade Organisation terms with the Maldives. The UK Government is strongly committed to tackling unsustainable fishing and would welcome the opportunity to continue its engagement with the Maldives through the London Stock Exchange Group on raising green and blue bonds and financing options to fund sustainable projects. Additionally, both the UK and the Maldives are contracting parties to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, where the UK is continuing to seek adoption of new measures for the protection of tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean.

Food: Prices

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of large supermarkets on preventing rises in food inflation from adversely raising the cost of basic foodstuff compared to luxury ranges.

Victoria Prentis: Defra has well established ways of working with the industry and across Government to monitor risks that may arise. This includes extensive, regular and ongoing engagement in preparedness for, and response to, issues with the potential to cause disruption to food supply chains. The Government monitors consumer food prices using the Consumer Prices Index including Housing costs (CPIH). Food prices are set individually by businesses. It is not for the UK Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by the companies. The UK Government will continue to work closely with industry to promote transparency for consumers and internationally to promote open markets via the Agricultural Markets Information Systems. The Government is committed to providing a strong welfare safety net of financial support for those that need it and has put in place measures to support vulnerable and low-income households, including the Household Support Fund to provide £500 million to help vulnerable people with the cost of food, utilities, and wider essentials over the winter months. Consumer food prices depend on a range of factors including agri-food import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour and manufacturing costs, and Sterling exchange rates. Some of these factors are influenced by our trading arrangements with other countries. Change in food prices is dependent on changes in one or more of these factors.

Hunting: Regulation

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has plans to bring forward a ban on trail hunting on Government land.

Rebecca Pow: The Hunting Act 2004 makes it an offence to hunt a wild mammal with dogs except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions in the Act. The Government will not amend the Hunting Act 2004. Issuing a licence or giving permission for trail hunting is an operational matter for the landowner and those organisations with a land lease or agreement in place for Government land.

Pesticides: Pollinators

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness of the authorisation process for pesticides and (b) the effect of that matter on (i) honey bees and (ii) wild pollinators.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to investigate the impact of currently authorised pesticides on honey bees.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research his Department has commissioned on the impact of currently authorised pesticides on (a) bees and (b) the potential consequences for the environment.

Victoria Prentis: The UK is a world leader in developing greener farming practises and upholds the highest standards of environmental and health protection. Our first priority is to ensure pesticides have no unacceptable effects on the environment and no harmful effects on human health. The authorisation of pesticide products, including those containing neonicotinoid active substances, is based on a detailed and robust scientific risk assessment. This is carried out by the regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), using studies and information provided by the applicant to address the extensive data requirements. The regulatory process is constantly updated so that it advances with scientific knowledge, and pesticides are reviewed regularly to ensure that they meet the latest standards. HSE’s assessment includes consideration of what happens to a pesticide after it is applied. This includes determining whether it breaks down, its persistence and mobility in soil and water, as well as effects on a range of non-target organisms. Linking pesticide usage directly to changes in both managed and wild pollinator populations remains challenging because of the range of pressures which affect pollinators, such as habitat loss and climate change, in addition to the complexities of assessing and attributing pesticide usage and risk to impacts. However, research suggests that the EU moratorium on the use of neonicotinoid (thiamethoxam, clothianidin, imidacloprid) seed treatments on mass-flowering crops in 2013 was effective at reducing exposure of honeybees to these pesticides over the subsequent years. We have funded research into the exposure of honeybees to pesticides, both over time and at national scale, through chemical analysis of pesticide residues found in honey samples. Using genetic techniques, such as DNA metabarcoding, this research can assess the plants foraged by exposed bees and highlight common pesticide exposure routes for this key pollinator species. We expect the results of this work to be published in the coming months. We are also funding research exploring how we could further develop our monitoring to better understand the effects, and the impacts, of pesticides on pollinators, such as expanding residue assessments to include wild pollinator species of bumblebees and solitary bees. Furthermore, Defra is developing a Pesticide Load Indicator which takes account of both the chemical properties of pesticides used and the weight applied. This uses pesticide usage data, ecotoxicity and environmental data to better understand how the pressure from pesticides on the environment, including bees, has changed over time. Much of this research will be published this year.

Environmental Land Management Scheme: Carbon Emissions

Angela Richardson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the new environmental land management scheme will provide specific rewards for evidence of actions that contribute towards reaching net zero.

Victoria Prentis: We are introducing three Environmental Land Management schemes that reward the delivery of environmental benefits: the Sustainable Farming Incentive; Local Nature Recovery; and Landscape Recovery. These schemes will be vital to supporting the delivery of our environmental targets, including achieving net zero emissions by 2050.Through these schemes, we will support farmers to significantly reduce agricultural emissions, for example, through reduced use of inorganic fertiliser through more efficient and sustainable nutrient management. We anticipate that the collective actions of farmers under our environmental land management scheme agreements, together with the Farming Innovation Fund which will fund the deployment of new technologies, and our other farming offers we will decarbonise agricultural emissions by up to a total of 6 MtCO2e per annum in Carbon Budget 6 (2033-2037) in England. Further to this we will also continue to pursue more opportunities through the schemes to support farmers and land managers' contribution to delivering our Carbon Budgets, including through tree planting and peat restoration.

Neonicotinoids

Nickie Aiken: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of supporting further investment in the development of sustainable alternatives to neonicotinoids, in order to avoid their use in emergency authorisations in circumstances where diseases or pests cannot be controlled by other reasonable means.

Victoria Prentis: Three neonicotinoids including the one covered by the sugar beet emergency authorisation, were banned by the EU in 2018, a decision the Government supported and so we have already moved decisively away from their use. British sugar is already developing alternative approaches to neonicotinoid seed treatments. It has stated that it may make applications for emergency authorisations for neonicotinoid seed treatments until 2023, by which time it intends to have developed alternative approaches. This includes the development of resistant plant varieties, measures to improve seed germination and new practices for growers. Defra investment is not focused on the development of sustainable alternatives to specific pesticides such as neonicotinoids. The department has funded important research into other areas that will ensure pesticides can be used sustainably in the future. We have funded research into the exposure of honeybees to pesticides, both over time and at national scale, through chemical analysis of pesticide residues found in honey samples. Using genetic techniques, such as DNA metabarcoding, this research can assess the plants foraged by exposed bees and highlight common pesticide exposure routes for this key pollinator species. We expect the results of this work to be published in the coming months. We are also funding research exploring how we could further develop our monitoring to better understand the effects, and the impacts, of pesticides on pollinators, such as expanding residue assessments to include wild pollinator species of bumblebees and solitary bees. Finally, in 2019 Defra commissioned the report 'Review of Evidence on Integrated Pest Management', which was published in 2020. This report assessed several themes including the effectiveness of IPM measures for reducing pesticide use, what combinations of IPM measures are most beneficial, and barriers and enablers to the uptake of IPM approaches. Research such as this will help Defra to meet its commitment to increase the uptake of Integrated Pest Management and sustainable crop protection, and therefore reduce any future reliance of emergency authorisation applications for neonicotinoids.

Neonicotinoids

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reason he has granted permission for the use of Cruiser SB.

Victoria Prentis: A detailed statement of reasons for the decision on the application for emergency authorisation for the use of Cruiser SB on sugar beet crops in 2022 has been published on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/neonicotinoid-product-as-seed-treatment-for-sugar-beet-emergency-authorisation-application. The Secretary of State found that requirements for emergency authorisation were met and that there are clear and substantial benefits to crop production from the use of Cruiser SB in a year with high pest pressures. Potential risks to bees can be mitigated to a low level and, with strict conditions being placed upon use, are outweighed by the benefits of use in these circumstances. A threshold has been applied to the decision such that the seed treatment may only go ahead should the threshold be met.

Schools: Food and Nutrition

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to work with the Department for Education to ensure that the nutrition and quality of food provided in schools is actively monitored to help prevent obesity in children.

Victoria Prentis: The forthcoming Government Food Strategy is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a food system that feeds our nation today and protects it for tomorrow. It will build upon work already underway in the Agriculture Act, Fisheries Act, and Environment Act as well as docking into wider Government priorities, such as the obesity strategy. The Government is fully committed to ensuring children get the best start in life. The Department for Education (DfE) encourages all schools to promote healthy eating and provide healthy, tasty, and nutritious food and drink, and as part of the upcoming Food Strategy, DfE is looking at options for driving adherence with the school food standards. The Government is also supporting the health and nutrition of children through initiatives such as the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme which provides a free piece of fruit or vegetable to every child in Key Stage 1 at state-funded primary schools on every school day. Defra will continue to work closely with DfE and all other relevant Departments across Whitehall to develop a plan to ensure the food system is sustainable and accessible, supporting people, families, and our future generations to live healthy lives. I am looking forward to meeting colleagues across various departments in the run up to publication.

Neonicotinoids: Regulation

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make it his policy to ban the use of products which contain thiamethoxam on areas used to grow crops.

Victoria Prentis: In 2018, the UK, along with other EU Member States, supported the withdrawal of approval for the outdoor use of three neonicotinoid pesticides (clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam) on any crops, including non-flowering crops such as sugar beet, due to the risk of harmful effects on pollinators. Although they have been withdrawn, emergency authorisations for neonicotinoids and other pesticides may be issued for limited and controlled use in special circumstances where diseases, pests or weeds cannot be controlled by any other reasonable means.Our support for the overall ban remains the same and use of this product will only take place if a threshold is met and will be strictly limited to a non-flowering crop and tightly controlled to minimise any potential risk to pollinators.

Air Pollution

Ian Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the change in levels of nitrogen oxide in (a) England and (b) Liverpool since 2010.

Jo Churchill: Defra carries out an assessment of annual mean concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) across the UK each year using an air quality model; the full results are published here. Since 2010, average modelled NO2 concentrations have decreased in both England and Liverpool; the average annual mean roadside NO2 concentration in England in 2019 was 28µgm-3, down from 42µgm-3 in 2010. Air quality measurement data from Defra’s long-term Automatic Urban and Rural Network also illustrates the decrease in average NO2 concentrations across the UK since 2010. The average annual mean NO2 concentration measured at roadside AURN sites across the UK decreased from 46µgm-3 in 2010 to 31µgm-3 in 2019 and 23µgm-3 in 2020.

Home Office

Afghanistan: Refugees

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department is providing to Afghan citizens associated with minority-faith based humanitarian and development organisations wishing to resettle in the UK.

Victoria Atkins: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Passports: Disability

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to ensure that passport photos which are exempt from the passport photograph rules due to the applicant's disability are correctly processed.

Kevin Foster: Where a disability prevents a customer from meeting the passport photo standards, Her Majesty’s Passport Office provides clear guidance to its staff for the waiving of some or all of the standards to ensure that the application is correctly processed. This guidance is available on GOV.UKhttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/ system/uploads/attachment_data/file/971218/Photo_Standardsv8.pdf

Passports: Disability

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to ensure that passport services are accessible for disabled people.

Kevin Foster: Her Majesty’s Passport Office is committed to ensuring that its services are accessible to all of its customers. Information about the services and facilities available to help with a passport application if you’re disabled can be found on GOV.UKhttps://www.gov.uk/passport-services-disabled

Homicide: Young People

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, (a) whether his Department has made an assessment of trends in the levels of murder of teenagers by stabbing and (b) what steps he is taking to tackle knife crime amount young people.

Kit Malthouse: The Government is aware of the number of young victims of knife crime and tackling knife crime is a priority for this Government.The Office for National Statistics publishes statistics on homicide from the Home Office Homicide Index. Over recent years, there has been an increase in homicides involving sharp instruments, including an increase in younger victims. The data are available here: www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/homicideinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2020It is vitally important that we prevent young people from being drawn into violent crime. This is why the Government has made £130.5m available this year to tackle serious violence, including murder and knife crime.This includes £35.5m for Violence Reduction Units which bring together local partners to tackle the drivers of violence in their area. VRUs are delivering a range of early intervention and prevention programmes to divert people away from a life of crime and have reached over 300,000 young people in their first year.We have invested £30m to support the police to take targeted action in parts of England and Wales most affected by serious violence through the Grip programme, which uses data to identify violence hotspots and target operational activity in those areas. Through the Grip pilot in Essex, Southend-on-Sea, there was a 73.5% drop in violent crime in hot spot areas on patrol days.We are also investing up to £20m million for new early intervention programmes that will help stop young people from being drawn into violence, including cognitive behavioural therapy, family therapy, as well as specialist support in crisis moments such as when a person is admitted to A&E with a knife injury. We have also established the £3.3 million Creating Opportunities Forum to provide meaningful employment-related opportunities and raise the aspirations of young people at risk of serious violence over the next 2 years.Longer term investment includes the 10-year Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) which we have invested £200 million in, to test and evaluate what works to support children and young people at risk of exploitation.We acknowledge there is more to do which is why the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill includes a duty on public sector bodies to take a joined-up approach to addressing serious violence; the requirement for local agencies to review the circumstances when an adult homicide takes place involving an offensive weapon; and Serious Violence Reduction Orders, which give the police the authority to stop and search known knife and weapons carriers.We have also introduced Knife Crime Prevention Orders in London, to help the Metropolitan Police identify and support those most at risk of violence. KCPOs will enable the courts to place restrictions on individuals, such as curfews, geographical restrictions, use of social media, as well as positive interventions requirements and, importantly, explicit prohibition to carry a knife.

Police: Emergency Calls

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will publish a list of each regional call centre that handles emergency calls to police forces in England.

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time was for answering an emergency call to the police service (a) nationally and (b) by regional police emergency call centre on a (i) Friday night and (ii) Saturday night in each of the last five years.

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff have been employed to answer emergency calls to police forces (a) nationally (b) at each regional hub in each of the last 5 years; and if he will make a statement.

Kit Malthouse: The handling of 999 emergency calls is an operational matter for the police. It is for Chief Constables and democratically elected Police and Crime Commissioners to decide how to deploy resources and handle communications with the public, based on their experience and knowledge of the communities they serve.Information on the number of police staff dedicated to answering emergency calls to the police is not held centrally by the Home Office.The Home Office collects and publishes data on the size of the police workforce in England and Wales on a biannual basis in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-walesInformation on the number of police officers, police staff and Police Community Support Officers by function is published annually in tables F1, F2 and F3 accompanying the police workforce statistics as at 31 March. These include the number of police staff working under function 2b – Dealing with the Public (Central Communications Unit). Figures are given for all of England and Wales and also broken down by Police Force Area. A definition of what roles are included within function 2b can be found in table F4.The Home Office does not have a list of regional call centres for emergency calls to police forces nor average waiting times for answers to emergency calls to the police nationally or regionally on i) Friday night and ii) Saturday night over the last five years. However, in the Beating Crime Plan, the Government has committed to publishing league tables for call answering times and ensuring that the public know how responsive their local force is when they call them for help. Publication is scheduled for May 2022.

Departmental Coordination

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department shares with the Department for Work and Pensions' Risk Review Team.

Kit Malthouse: The Home Office does not regularly share information with the Department for Work and Pensions' Risk Review Team.

Home Office: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many post legislative reviews (a) their Department or (b) their predecessor Department has undertaken on (i) primary and (ii) secondary legislation in each of the last five years.

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of the (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation sponsored by (i) their Department or (ii) their predecessor Department has undergone a post legislative review in each of the last 10 years.

Kit Malthouse: The number of post legislative reviews the Department has undertaken on primary and secondary legislation in each of the last five or ten years is not held within the Department.

Coronavirus: Fines

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have received fines for breaking restrictions related to covid-19 since their introduction in 2020; and how much revenue has been raised from those fines.

Kit Malthouse: Data on the number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued under the COVID-19 regulations by police forces in England and Wales is collected by policing and published bi-monthly by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC). This information can be found on the NPCC website.The latest figures collected up to 19 December 2021 was published on 11 January 2022 and can be found here: Update on the national police absence rate and Coronavirus FPNs issued by forces in England and Wales (npcc.police.uk). Police in England and Wales have processed a total of 118,963 FPNs for coronavirus breaches. No public data is currently available on the number of FPNs paid, however, the NPCC have committed to publishing data on this in due course.

Police: Vetting

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps is her Department taking, in conjunction with the Home Office, to ensure that police forces are meeting published service standards on the speed and efficiency of DBS checks.

Kit Malthouse: DBS have the following measures in place to ensure police forces are meeting the published service standards on speed and efficiency of DBS checks:The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and DBS have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) in place with all forces with regards to delivering against quality, output, cost, and timeliness measures.DBS has account managers in place who work with the forces and monitor progress against SLA measures.DBS distributes the required funding to allow forces to recruit the staff needed to process the work, cover IT costs and accommodation charges.DBS has embedded across all forces a “Quality Assurance Framework” that provides a consistent approach to the quality of work done across all forces.

Police: Vetting

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the DBS Check - Police Performance Summary webpage will be updated to show figures since April 2021.

Kit Malthouse: The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) publication scheme details which information held by DBS is available to the public. Most of the information that is available through the scheme can be found on the DBS website. Alternatively, it may be provided upon request.The publication scheme was established in accordance with Section 19 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and in accordance with guidance issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).DBS revised their publication scheme in March 2021 to ensure it is in line with DBS published performance standards. Police Performance is a subset of enhanced DBS check data, it does not have a separate DBS public service standard, and has been removed from the publication scheme. There will therefore be no further update of this dataset.

Home Office: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many pieces of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation their Department has sponsored in each of the last 10 years.

Kit Malthouse: The number of pieces of both primary and secondary legislation sponsored by Government departments could be calculated utilising publicly available information. This information is not held within the Department.

Public Transport: Sexual Offences

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the enforcement of legislation on (a) up-skirting and (b) other sexual assaults on public transport.

Rachel Maclean: Everyone has the right to feel safe when travelling and using public spaces. The Department for Transport is working closely with the Home Office on the Government’s cross-departmental strategy to address Violence Against Women and Girls.Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for the Government. These crimes include rape, sexual violence, domestic abuse, stalking, ‘honour’-based abuse including female genital mutilation and forced marriage, ‘revenge porn’ and ‘upskirting’. They can have a profound and long-lasting impact on victims and have absolutely no place in our societyOn July 21 we published our new cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere - at home, online and on the streets.A key commitment in the VAWG Strategy includes appointing Laura Shoaf and Anne Shaw as Transport Champions to make public transport safer for women and girls. The Transport Women’s Safety Champions will shortly publish 13 independent recommendations on ways we can work together to improve the safety of women and girls on the transport network.These proposals are a crucial step in the Government’s long-term commitment to making sure that women and girls can travel alone, safely and without fear.The Department for Transport also works closely with transport partners on a range of initiatives to address the problems faced by vulnerable groups, including women and girls, on the transport network. However, we know that we must do more.A Rail Delivery Group led project started in 2019 in partnership with the British Transport Police to drive a national strategy to improve safety of women and girls on the rail network. A specific training package has been developed and is being delivered to frontline rail staff across operators.The British Transport Police is also currently working on technological solutions remove barriers to reporting crime. They were recently successful in a bid to the Home Office Safer Streets Fund to develop a ‘Safety App’ that will provide advice and support during customers journeys.

Alcoholic Drinks: Gender Based Violence

Dr Philippa Whitford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help ensure that parents safeguard their children from the risks associated with drinking alcohol and violence against women and girls.

Rachel Maclean: We recognise the devastating effects that VAWG crimes can have on children and young people and that home is not a safe place for all. We are absolutely clear that alcohol is no excuse for domestic abuse, violence or any other kind of abusive behaviour.In the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 we recognised that children are victims of domestic abuse in their own right where they see, hear or experience its effects and are related to the victim or perpetrator. The Act also appointed a Domestic Abuse Commissioner, one of whose functions is to encourage good practice in the provision of protection and support for children affected by domestic abuse.To directly support children experiencing domestic abuse this year we are providing over £3 million to services across the country providing a range of therapeutic and early intervention support to children.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Housing: Energy

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what data his Department holds on the median energy efficiency score for house builds completed in 2021 in (a) Slough and (b) the South East.

Eddie Hughes: The Department makes this data publicly available via the Open Data Communities Service: https://opendatacommunities.org.

Leasehold

Sir Charles Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to review the (a) extent and (b) implications of property managing agents' use of embedded management agreements as a substitute for leasehold agreements; and if he will make a statement.

Eddie Hughes: The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and renters and making sure that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. This commitment includes raising professionalism and standards amongst managing agents, protecting consumers while defending the reputation of good agents from the actions of rogue operatives.Leaseholders purchasing a property will enter into a lease agreement with the freeholder. A property or managing agent may also be named in the lease, and leases may have an exit clause which determines how and when to manage or replace the managing agent. However, leaseholders can take action if they are concerned with the poor performance of a managing agent. They may complain to the relevant Government-approved redress scheme to which a managing agent must belong. Furthermore Section 24 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 gives the tribunal the power to appoint a manager to take over the landlord's right to manage the building where there has been a significant management failure by the existing managing agent or landlord.

Private Roads

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the impact on residents of living on an unadopted road.

Eddie Hughes: Where a road is not adopted by the local authority the responsibility for maintaining the road rests with third parties, which are usually the owners of properties that front onto it.Estate rentcharges are one way that residents cover the unadopted road’s maintenance. However, it is not appropriate that these homeowners have limited rights to challenge these costs. The Government is committed to protecting homeowners from abuse and poor service. That is why the Government intends to legislate to ensure that the charges that resident freeholders pay towards the maintenance of communal areas, including unadopted roads, are fairer and more transparent.To this effect, we will give freeholders on private and mixed tenure estates equivalent rights to leaseholders to challenge the reasonableness of estate rentcharges, as well as a right to apply to the First-tier Tribunal to appoint a new manager to manage the provision of services.In addition, we will ensure that where a freeholder pays a rentcharge, the rentcharge owner is not able to take possession or grant a lease on the property where the rentcharge remains unpaid for a short period of time. We will translate these measures into law when parliamentary time allows.We will also consider the option of introducing a Right to Manage for residential freeholders once we have considered the Law Commission's report and recommendations on changes to the Right to Manage for leaseholders.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many pieces of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation their Department has sponsored in each of the last 10 years.

Eddie Hughes: The number of pieces of both primary and secondary legislation sponsored by Government departments could be calculated utilising publicly available information. This information is not held within the Department.

Supported Housing: Veterans

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what research (a) has been and (b) is being undertaken to help improve understanding of the supply and funding of supported housing for veterans affected by homelessness; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy in the funding for that housing to meet existing service provision.

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what (a) statutory funding and (b) charitable and other non-statutory funding has been available for veteran supported housing in each financial year since 2010-11.

Eddie Hughes: This Government is committed to supporting our veterans who have given so much in service of our country (and we have published a refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan, on 19 January). We are also committed to ending rough sleeping, including for veterans. This is backed by over £2 billion over the next 3 years to tackle rough sleeping and homelessnessFunding for housing support services is devolved to local authorities through the Local Government Settlement. Local authorities are best placed to make decisions on what local services they provide, based on local priorities and circumstances. My Department does not collect annual statistics here specifically on veterans.The refreshed Veterans Strategy Action Plan includes a reference to planned research on supported housing, including veterans.

Social Rented Housing: Energy

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps he has taken to ensure the Government target for all social homes to meet a minimum standard of EPC C is met.

Eddie Hughes: In the Clean Growth Strategy, published in 2017, the Government made a commitment for as many homes as possible to achieve EPC band C by 2035 where cost-effective, practical and affordable. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to heat decarbonisation, and our approach to regulation demonstrates this. Social housing currently has the most energy efficient homes of all tenures, with 66% of homes already EPC C or above. Work led by DLUHC on the Decent Homes Standard review will consider how the standard can work to support better energy efficiency and the decarbonisation of social homes.We will continue to ensure financial support is targeted to those who need it most, supporting the most vulnerable in society in switching to low-carbon heating and improving the energy efficiency of their homes. We are boosting funding for the BEIS-led Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), investing a further £800 million over 2022/23 to 2024/25, which will upgrade a significant amount of the social housing stock currently below EPC C up to that standard, delivering warm, energy-efficient homes, reducing carbon emissions and fuel bills, tackling fuel poverty, and supporting green jobs. This £800 million brings the total committed funding for the SHDF and associated demonstrator to just over £1billion, representing a very significant investment that will drive the decarbonisation agenda across this important sector on the pathway to net zero. My officials work very closely with BEIS to support the SHDF.In the Heat and Buildings Strategy, the Government also committed to consider setting a long-term regulatory standard to improve social housing to EPC band C, with levers required to decarbonise the stock in line with Net Zero. We will consult the sector before setting any such standard.

Judaism: Festivals and Special Occasions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he will take to ensure that local authorities seek to celebrate and commemorate the history, recent and historical, of Judaism within their areas.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he will take to assist local Jewish communities engage with their local history, including former synagogues and other significant sites.

Eddie Hughes: I would encourage all local authorities to celebrate and commemorate Judaism and to acknowledge the valuable contribution made by the Jewish community in their area.The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) recently launched a new resource to enrich teaching and learning about the Holocaust. The new website, WWW.UKHOLOCAUSTMAP.ORG.UK will help communities across the country learn about their local connections to the Holocaust, Jewish refugees and British responses to Nazism.

Property Development: Floods

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the construction of inappropriate developments in flood risk areas.

Christopher Pincher: Flood risk is an important consideration in the planning system and there are strict policy tests to protect people and property from flooding. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided. Where development is necessary, it should be made safe and resilient – and without increasing flood risk elsewhere. In July 2021 the NPPF was amended to make sure that all sources of flood risk need to be considered (including areas that are at risk of surface water flooding due to drainage problems), taking into account future flood risk, to ensure that any new development is safe for its lifetime without increasing the risk of flooding elsewhere.Where a developer is proposing a development in a flood risk area, or where the development is of one hectare or more, they will need to submit a site-specific flood risk assessment with their planning application. This should identify all flood risks both to and from a development, and demonstrate how these risks will be managed.

Housing: Older People

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Government is taking steps to create a task force to support the increased provision of new and better homes to older people.

Christopher Pincher: This Government is committed to further improving the diversity of housing options available to older people and boosting the supply of specialist elderly accommodation. We continue to work closely with colleagues across government and with a range of stakeholders to look at how we can further support the growth of a thriving older people's housing sector. This includes considering the merits of different engagement and delivery models, including proposals from the sector for a cross-government taskforce.

Local Government Services

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to local authorities of tackling backlogs in locally-delivered services.

Neil O'Brien: Local authorities, who know their areas’ needs best, are best placed to determine how to deliver services locally.Councils have been essential to the national response to COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic, we have committed over £13 billion to local authorities to tackle the impact of COVID-19 on their services, over £6 billion of which is un-ringfenced in recognition that they are best placed to decide how to meet the major COVID-19 pressures in their local areas, as well as providing compensation for lost income.The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement, published on 17th December 2021, makes available an additional £3.5 billion to councils, including funding for adult social care reform. This is an increase in local authority funding for 2022-23 of over 4% in real terms, which will ensure councils across the country have the resources they need to deliver key services. In total, we expect Core Spending Power to rise from £50.4 billion in 2021-22 to up to £53.9 billion in 2022-23.

Special Educational Needs

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what involvement Ministers and officials from his Department have had in the upcoming SEND Review and Green Paper.

Neil O'Brien: The cross-government SEND review, led by the Department for Education (DfE), is looking at ways to make the SEND system consistent, high quality, and integrated across education, health and care. DfE are co-producing the Review as much as possible with stakeholders. DLUHC sits on the SEND Review Steering Group; and my officials are working closely with DfE colleagues on the Review.The Group draws its membership from organisations representing parents, children and young people, the voluntary and community sector, early years, schools, further education, health and care organisations and institutions, local authorities, government departments and expert advisers. This makes it well placed to advise on the Review’s progress and make sure it is well informed, taking into account the views of the groups who are represented. A full list of Steering Group members can be found by visiting https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/send-review-steering-group.The outcome of the SEND Review will be published in the first three months of this year as a Green Paper for full public consultation. We remain engaged to ensure the review delivers a suitable outcome for local government, as well as for parents, children and young people.

Cabinet Office

Park Retail

Bill Esterson: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much money has been paid out of the public purse to Park Retail Ltd. since it was first accredited as a supplier.

Michael Ellis: Cabinet Office finance systems only record information from 2009 onwards. There have been no payments made to the supplier Park Retail Ltd by the Cabinet Office since 1st April 2009.

Telecommunications Cables: Seas and Oceans

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what policies are in place with respect to sub-sea telecommunication cables; and what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of including the security of sub-sea telecommunication cables in the national security strategy.

Michael Ellis: The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is the lead department for telecommunications policy, including the security and resilience of telecommunications subsea cables. DCMS works closely with operators, regulators and others to assess risks and ensure that the appropriate mitigation measures are in place. The Integrated Review 2021 acknowledged that the Royal Navy will remain active in the UK’s territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone, including by investing in new capabilities to protect undersea critical national infrastructure - including subsea telecommunications cables.

Cabinet Office: Departmental Responsibilities

Angela Rayner: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether another Minister in his Department has been allocated the responsibilities held by the former Minister of State, Lord Agnew.

Michael Ellis: Lord Agnew's responsibilities as a Cabinet Office Minister were delegated by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Since his resignation, these responsibilities have returned to CDL. Any further announcements on ministerial responsibilities will be made in the usual way.

Cabinet Office: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many post legislative reviews (a) their Department or (b) their predecessor Department has undertaken on (i) primary and (ii) secondary legislation in each of the last five years.

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of the (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation sponsored by (i) their Department or (ii) their predecessor Department has undergone a post legislative review in each of the last 10 years.

Michael Ellis: The number of post legislative reviews the Department has undertaken on primary and secondary legislation in each of the last ten years is not held within the Department.

Cabinet Office: Coronavirus

Angela Rayner: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2021 to Question 107597 on Government Departments: Coronavirus, if he will list each piece of additional assorted guidance that has been issued to Cabinet Office staff to support them in relation to managing the risk of covid-19 in the workplace.

Michael Ellis: I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer I gave on 24 January to PQ107597. A list of every piece of guidance issued to Cabinet Office staff relating to managing the risk of COVID-19 in the workplace cannot be provided due to the disproportionate cost.

Treasury

Companies: Coronavirus

Kate Hollern: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the funds paid out to dormant companies in relation to the coronavirus support schemes.

Lucy Frazer: The COVID-19 support schemes have helped millions of people and businesses through the pandemic. These schemes are part of the collective national effort to protect jobs. HMRC administered the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme (EOHO) SEISS was only payable to non-incorporated businesses. CJRS and EOHO was payable to both non-incorporated and incorporated businesses. HMRC prioritised getting money to those who needed it with the schemes designed to minimise fraud while not unnecessarily delaying payments. The schemes were designed to prevent fraud, both in the eligibility criteria and the claim process itself. However, they could still be attractive to fraudsters.To qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme employers needed to have a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme and submitted a Real Time Information (RTI) return with details of the employees’ wages. For instance, for claim periods between 1 November 2020 and 30 April 2021 employees included in furlough claims must have been employed on 30 October 2020 and HMRC must have received an RTI submission between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020 notifying a payment through PAYE in respect of that employee.To qualify for the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme, claimants needed to register confirming they met the following criteria:Business sells food for immediate consumption on the premisesBusiness provides its own dining area or shares a dining area with another establishment for eat-in mealsRegistered as a food business with the relevant local authority on or before 7 July 2020. The company will have to have been actively trading to make a valid claim.To ensure quick payment, HMRC undertook pre-payment risk assessments within 72 hours of receipt, blocking those indicating criminal activity. As businesses were required to be active to make a valid claim, HMRC believes that the risk of funds being paid to dormant companies to be low.

Electronic Cigarettes: Excise Duties

Antony Higginbotham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC has made an assessment of the potential merits of levying an excise duty on vaping products.

Antony Higginbotham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC has made an assessment of the potential merits of applying an excise duty to non-tobacco nicotine products.

Helen Whately: The Government has no current plans to apply an excise duty to non-tobacco nicotine or vaping products. We believe these are an effective way of encouraging smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives. Non-tobacco nicotine and vaping products are currently subject to the standard rate of VAT at 20%. Medicinally regulated products are subject to the reduced rate of VAT at 5%.

Environment Protection: Investment

Ben Lake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which provisions within the capital super-deduction allowance specifically incentivise investment in the green transition.

Helen Whately: The super-deduction provides businesses with the biggest two-year tax cut in modern British history, providing upfront support to encourage businesses to invest in the equipment they need, including more efficient equipment to support the transition to net zero.

Motor Vehicles: Charging Points

Ben Lake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the existing tax regime in respect of electricity consumption for electric vehicle charging.

Helen Whately: The Government has no plans to review the current rate of VAT applied to electric vehicle charging (EV).In order to keep costs down for families, the supply of electricity for domestic use, including the consumption for electric vehicles charging at home, attracts the reduced rate of VAT (five per cent). However, electricity supplied at EV charging points in public places is subject to the standard rate of VAT (twenty per cent).HMRC is currently reviewing the way in which businesses are able to reclaim the VAT incurred for the charging of electric vehicles. As part of this, VAT Notice 700/64 (Motoring Expenses) was updated on 6 January to provide further clarification. The review is ongoing and will conclude later this year.

Treasury: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of the (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation sponsored by (i) their Department or (ii) their predecessor Department has undergone a post legislative review in each of the last 10 years.

Helen Whately: In the last 10 years, HM Treasury has records of three Acts of primary legislation having undergone post legislative reviews. HM Treasury does not hold information on how many post legislative reviews the Department has undertaken on secondary legislation in each of the last ten years. Section 28 of The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (‘SBEE Act 2015’) brought in a new duty to review secondary legislation, with exceptions where it is deemed inappropriate by the responsible Minister to do so. Prior to this, there was no statutory requirement to review secondary legislation. HM Treasury does not hold information on the proportion of post legislative reviews the Department has undertaken on primary and secondary legislation in each of the last ten years. However, post legislative reviews prior to the introduction of the SBEE Act 2015 will be available on legislation.gov.uk or gov.uk where it was possible to publish them, considering market sensitivity. This information on primary and secondary legislation is only held for internal administrative reasons and may not be exhaustive, for example, due to machinery of government changes to departmental structure in the past decade.

Treasury: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many post legislative reviews (a) their Department or (b) their predecessor Department has undertaken on (i) primary and (ii) secondary legislation in each of the last five years.

Helen Whately: In the last five years, HM Treasury undertook and laid one post legislative review for primary legislation, which covered multiple Acts. Separately, post legislative memorandums may be found on gov.uk. For secondary legislation, post legislative reviews are known as Post-Implementation Reviews (PIRs) if they come under the Better Regulation Framework. Between Jan 2017-Jan 2022, under the scope defined by the SBEE Act 2015 and the Better Regulation Framework, HM Treasury has records of 19 PIRs having been completed and published. The breakdown for each of the last five years is as follows: 1 in 2017; 3 in 2018; 6 in 2019; 2 in 2020; 6 in 2021; 1 in 2022. This information on post legislative reviews of both primary and secondary legislation is only held in HM Treasury for internal administrative reasons and may not be exhaustive, for example, due to machinery of government changes to departmental structure in the past decade. Where possible, considering any market sensitivity, all post legislative reviews or post legislative memorandums are published on gov.uk, and PIRs are published alongside the original legislation on legislation.gov.uk for transparency and accountability. As well as completed reviews, there are a number of PIRs currently being undertaken, some of which cover multiple pieces of legislation.

Personal Care Services: Coronavirus

Robert Halfon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support the Government has put in place for beauty salons affected by Plan B covid-19 restrictions.

Helen Whately: In December, Government announced a generous £1 billion package of support for business and their employees to help them manage the effects of the rapid surge of Omicron and bounce back quickly. The Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant scheme, announced on 21 December, is intended to provide targeted support for the food and beverage, accommodation and leisure sectors which offer in-person services. This action was taken to support businesses impacted by the Omicron variant, which led to the public voluntarily restricting their social mixing and reports that many businesses in these sectors had lost 40-60% of their December trade. Personal Care services are not eligible for this scheme. However, in recognition that other businesses outside the scope of this grant may have been impacted, local authorities in England also received a top-up worth a total of £102 million to their Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) fund. Distribution of ARG funds is at the local authority's discretion. Due to the balanced and proportionate approach taken by the Government in response to the Omicron variant, Cabinet has decided to return to Plan A in England.

Credit

Robert Halfon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the increase in the number of people using buy now, pay later services.

Robert Halfon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish a response to the consultation on the regulation of buy now pay later products which closed on 6 January 2022.

Robert Halfon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of 18 to 24 year olds who have been referred to debt collection agencies by buy now, pay later firms in the last 12 months.

Robert Halfon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of amount collected in late payment fees by the buy now, pay later sector in each of the last three years.

Robert Halfon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of increases in the number of people using buy now, pay later services as an additional form of short-term credit financing.

Robert Halfon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure people understand the financial consequences of using buy now, pay later services to fund purchases.

John Glen: HM Treasury regularly monitors changes in the consumer credit market as part of the normal process of policy development. The Woolard Review into the unsecured credit market found several potential risks of consumer detriment from interest-free Buy-Now Pay-Later products, including the absence of information given to consumers about features of Buy-Now Pay-Later agreements. The Government recognises those risks, but also notes that as an interest-free product, Buy-Now Pay-Later can often be lower-risk than other forms of borrowing and a useful tool to help consumers manage their finances. That is why, on 2 February 2021, the Government announced its intention to regulate Buy-Now Pay-Later products in a proportionate manner. The Government published a consultation on policy proposals for the regulation of Buy-Now Pay-Later on 21 October 2021, which closed on 6 January. The consultation included proposals to apply Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules on pre-contract disclosure and adequate explanations to Buy-Now Pay-Later agreements. These rules require firms to make adequate pre-contractual explanation to ensure the customer is in a position to assess whether the agreement is suitable for their needs and financial situation. The Government is now reviewing responses to this consultation and considering next steps and intends to publish a consultation response in the spring. HMT does not hold information regarding the number of 18- to 24-year-olds who have been referred to debt collection agencies by Buy-Now Pay-Later in the last 12 months, or the amount collected in late payment fees by the Buy-Now Pay-Later sector in each of the last three years. Instead, HMT draws on the research of various stakeholders including consumer groups and the wider financial services industry.

Treasury: Legislation

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many pieces of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation their Department has sponsored in each of the last 10 years.

Helen Whately: Primary Legislation:The number of pieces of primary legislation sponsored by Government departments could be calculated utilising publicly available information. This information is not held within the Department.  Secondary Legislation:YearSecondary Legislation20111542012123201315720141202015153201610120171232018107201913520201222021111This information is only held for internal administrative reasons and may not be exhaustive.

Members: Correspondence

Karl Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Hull East of 19 November 2021 on tonnage tax reform.

Helen Whately: HM Treasury has no record of receiving the letter of 19 November from the Hon Member. The Member supplied a copy of the letter on 26 January which is now receiving attention. HM Treasury apologises for the delay in responding and will have a response with the Member as soon as possible.

Sustainable Development: Finance

Ben Lake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of (a) the implications for his policies of the Bank of International Settlement’s report, Sustainable finance: trends, valuations and exposures, published September 2021 and (b) the risks to UK investors and public finances of a green finance bubble.

John Glen: Greening the financial system is fundamental to meeting the UK’s net zero commitment and so it is positive that we are seeing increasing inflows of investments into green assets. The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) report into sustainable finance encourages authorities to monitor green financial assets and improve transparency for the sector. UK financial authorities have strong risk-management processes in place to monitor financial markets. The Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) continually assesses the resilience of the financial system, and UK financial authorities work closely to manage risks at both the domestic and international level. The Chancellor’s ambition is for the UK to be the best place in the world for green and sustainable finance. The UK is already taking bold action to achieve this, introducing economy-wide sustainability disclosure requirements to give companies the data they need to embed sustainability into everything they do. The Government has gone further by taking a leading role in pressing for global action in international fora such as the G7 and G20, and at COP26.

Inflation: Newport West

Ruth Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of inflation on living standards in Newport West constituency.

John Glen: We understand that inflation, if higher than income growth, can reduce households’ real income, and that higher prices can increase the cost of living for people and households. The government is working with international partners to tackle global supply chain disruption and providing support worth around £12 billion this financial year and next to help people with the cost of living. This includes cutting the Universal Credit taper rate to make sure work pays, freezing alcohol and fuel duties to keep costs down, and providing targeted support to help vulnerable households with their energy bills and other essentials.

Mortgages: Regulation

Kevin Hollinrake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2022 to Question 103605 on Financial Services Authority, on what specific information and reports the decision not take forward the legislation referred to in that Question was based.

John Glen: The Government decided that it would not take forward legislation but would keep the position of contracts sold to unregulated firms under review and return to legislation if there was sufficient evidence of consumer detriment. This decision was reached based on careful consideration of the market conditions at the time, analysis of the available evidence of consumer harm and engagement with a range of stakeholders, including the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The Government continues to keep the position of mortgage contracts sold to unregulated firms under review. All mortgages, regardless of the regulatory status of the owner, must be administered by a regulated administrator.It is worth reiterating that further regulation of this kind would not necessarily enable borrowers to switch to a cheaper mortgage deal or lower the interest rates they pay.

Business: Coronavirus

Mr David Davis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to tackle fraud in the covid-19 business support schemes.

John Glen: The Government has consistently stated that fraud is unacceptable, and we are taking action on multiple fronts to recover money lost to error and fraud and, where necessary, take legal action on those who have sought to exploit the Covid support schemes. It was right to establish the schemes quickly and in a way that they could be accessed easily by the millions who needed support. Given the unprecedented efforts that the Government have made to protect jobs and livelihoods during this pandemic, it would have been impossible to prevent all related fraud. However, we have taken reasonable steps, and will continue to do so, to deflect and combat that fraud, and we will continue to be vigilant. Robust measures were put in place to control error and fraud in the key COVID-19 support schemes from their inception. For instance, to minimise the risk of fraud and error and unverified claims, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employment Income Support Scheme were designed in a way to prevent ineligible claims being made up front, and made payments for employees and businesses using existing data held on HMRC’s systems. That included cut-off dates around scheme eligibility and the need for customers to be registered for pay-as-you-earn online or self-assessment. To further bolster anti-fraud measures on HMRC-delivered covid support schemes, at the Spring Budget last year, the Government invested more than £100 million in a Taxpayer Protection Taskforce of more than 1,200 HMRC staff to combat Covid-related fraud. This Taskforce is expected to recover between £800 million and £1 billion from fraudulent or incorrect payments during 2021-22 and 2022-23. In addition, HMRC has so far stopped or recovered £743 million of overclaimed grants in 2020/21. Regarding the Bounce Back Loan Scheme, the Government continues to work closely with the British Business Bank, lenders and enforcement agencies to tackle fraud and to recover as many fraudulent loans as possible. This is on top of the £2.2 billion worth of fraudulent applications that were prevented by upfront checks. In addition, as part of the Spring Budget last year, we announced plans to significantly strengthen enforcement activity against fraudulent Bounce Back Loans, including new powers for the Insolvency Service to tackle rogue directors and investing in the National Investigation Service to investigate serious fraud.

Hospitality Industry: VAT

Claire Hanna: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to extend the reduction in VAT for the hospitality sector beyond April 2022.

Lucy Frazer: The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors. As announced at Spring Budget 2021, the Government extended the 5 per cent temporary reduced rate of VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors until the end of September 2021. On 1 October 2021, a new reduced rate of 12.5 per cent was introduced for these goods and services to help ease affected businesses back to the standard rate. This new rate will end on 31 March 2022. This relief has cost over £8 billion and, whilst all taxes are kept under review, there are no plans to extend the 12.5 per cent reduced rate of VAT. The Government has been clear that this relief is a temporary measure designed to support the sectors that have been severely affected by COVID-19. It is appropriate that as restrictions are lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increases the temporary tax reliefs are first reduced, and then removed, in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.

Hospitality Industry: VAT

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish an impact assessment on the effect of ending the reduced rate of VAT on (a) jobs and (b) businesses in the hospitality sector.

Lucy Frazer: The temporary reduced rate of VAT was introduced on 15 July 2020 to support the cash flow and viability of around 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs in the hospitality and tourism sectors. As announced at Spring Budget 2021, the Government extended the 5 per cent temporary reduced rate of VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors until the end of September 2021. On 1 October 2021, a new reduced rate of 12.5 per cent was introduced for these goods and services to help ease affected businesses back to the standard rate. This new rate will end on 31 March 2022. This relief has cost over £8 billion and, whilst all taxes are kept under review, there are no plans to extend the 12.5 per cent reduced rate of VAT. The Government has been clear that this relief is a temporary measure designed to support the sectors that have been severely affected by COVID-19. It is appropriate that as restrictions are lifted and demand for goods and services in these sectors increases the temporary tax reliefs are first reduced, and then removed, in order to rebuild and strengthen the public finances.

Economic Growth: National Insurance Contributions

Christine Jardine: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the National Insurance rise on economic growth; and if he will publish that assessment.

Christine Jardine: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the full economic impact assessment underpinning section 4.6 of the Health and Social Care Levy policy paper.

Lucy Frazer: The Government has made a number of assessments of the impact of the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy, which were published alongside the announcement. These include the distributional analysis of the impact of the combined tax and spending announcements, a technical annex in our plan for health and social care, and a Tax Information and Impact Note. In their latest Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the Office for Budget Responsibility set out their assessment of the economic effects of the Levy, including the impact on labour supply and wages. This can be found here: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2021/

Social Services: Finance

Nadia Whittome: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a ring-fenced fund to support the provision of local authority social care.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Spending Review provides local authorities with an additional £1.6 billion of grant funding in each of the next three years. The provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23 confirmed that local authorities will have access to over £1 billion of additional resources next year specifically for social care. Ultimately, it is for local authorities to manage their budgets within the funding available and prioritise spending based on their own understanding of the needs of their local communities.

Cancer: Nurses

Dan Carden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a ringfenced fund for specialist cancer nurses.

Mr Simon Clarke: Investing in our NHS workforce is critical to delivering NHS services, and this includes specialist cancer nurses. The government is committed to delivering 50,000 additional nurses this Parliament and funding for this is already ringfenced. Alongside this commitment, the government will provide hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the SR21 period to ensure a bigger and better trained NHS workforce. The Treasury is working closely with DHSC to develop detailed workforce spending plans and the cancer workforce requirements will be an important part of those considerations.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Housing: Broadband

Dr Kieran Mullan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that new homes have access to gigabit broadband.

Julia Lopez: It is a government priority to ensure that new build homes are future-proofed and are ready for gigabit-capable connections. Working closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, we have developed proposals to require developers to install into new homes the physical infrastructure necessary and to work with network operators to provide a gigabit-capable connection.The measures will give more people access to fast, reliable and resilient broadband connections and reduce the need for costly and disruptive work to retrospectively install them in homes. A statutory technical consultation on these proposals is underway and closes on 28 February 2022 in advance of legislation being brought forward.

Telecommunications

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to amend the Electronic Communications Code to allow fixed line telecoms operators to install apparatus on poles erected before 2017 without the need for a new wayleave agreement.

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on full fibre rollout of the provisions included in the Product Security & Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill to allow operators to access existing infrastructure under private land without the need to agree a new wayleave.

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the provisions included in Paragraph 74 of the Electronic Communications Code, what assessment she has made of telecoms operators’ ability to (a) fly lines between BT poles on private land and (b) install the necessary apparatus on BT poles on private land.

Julia Lopez: The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill includes measures that are intended to make it easier for operators to deploy, upgrade and share telecommunications infrastructure, while protecting the rights and interests of individual landowners.The De Minimis Impact Assessment (which can be accessed here) sets out the overall potential benefits that the Bill will deliver. Access to robust and reliable connectivity is critical to our future economic prosperity. The reforms we are bringing forward through the Bill will help achieve that goal.The measures in the Bill were carefully developed to balance the public benefits they can deliver and any interference with individual property rights.However, since the Bill was introduced, stakeholders have indicated that additional, substantial public benefit may be achieved if upgrading and sharing is more readily available, particularly in relation to telegraph poles installed on private land before 2017.My officials are discussing this point with stakeholders to test the impact of the present proposals and to understand whether the correct balance has been achieved. If appropriate, changes will be considered.

Football Governance Fan-led Review

Kate Hollern: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the merits of COPA90's recommendations on issues of fan behaviour and engagement as part of the Fan Led Review of Football Governance.

Nigel Huddleston: We thank all those organisations and individuals who gave and submitted evidence to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance, including COPA90. All submissions were assessed by the Independent Fan Led Review.The Government has welcomed the Fan Led Review and has endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.The Government is working at pace to review the report in full, including detailed consideration of the recommendations made on improving fan engagement and accountability across the game.The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders as we work towards issuing a full response to the report in the Spring.

Tourism

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what initiatives her Department is planning to promote and encourage domestic tourism in 2022.

Nigel Huddleston: Our Tourism Recovery Plan (TRP) sets out an ambition to recover domestic tourism to pre pandemic levels of 99 million overnight trips and spend of £19 billion by the end of 2022. We have been committed to supporting the sector to remain resilient and have already provided £37 billion to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.The TRP also announced plans for a new rail pass which, which we hope to launch this year, to help make it easier and more sustainable for domestic tourists to get around Scotland, England, and Wales.The Government has delivered a £10 million ‘Days Out’ campaign, in partnership with the British Tourist Authority and National Lottery, which has stimulated demand for more off-season day trips to tourist sites across the UK. The next phase of the campaign (launching 31 January) offers the opportunity to redeem £25 vouchers against February half term visits in the UK, supporting hundreds of attractions across all four nations.VisitEngland is launching the next phase of its domestic marketing campaign, Escape the Everyday, in February. The campaign will focus on cities as they are impacted by lower numbers of international visitors and it will target a ‘pre-nester’ audience (18-34 year olds), encouraging them to book a short city-break.2022 also promises a host of unmissable events, including Her Majesty’s Jubilee, with a programme of events over the extended Jubilee Bank holiday; Unboxed, which aims to engage millions of people through in person and digital events; as well as the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, which will drive visitors to the region.

Football: Finance

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the long-term financial sustainability of lower-league football clubs.

Nigel Huddleston: The Government recognises the need for the long-term financial sustainability of football clubs, particularly those in the lower leagues. That is why we have welcomed the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance and have endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.The Government is working at pace to review the report in full, including detailed consideration of the recommendations made on improving financial stability and the governance of football clubs across the game.The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders as we work towards issuing a full response to the report in the Spring.

Football Governance Fan-led Review

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress her Department has made on implementing the recommendations from the Fan Led Review of Football Governance.

Nigel Huddleston: The Government recognises the need for the long-term financial sustainability of football clubs, particularly those in the lower leagues. That is why we have welcomed the Independent Fan Led Review of Football Governance and have endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.The Government is working at pace to review the report in full, including detailed consideration of the recommendations made on improving financial stability and the governance of football clubs across the game.The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders as we work towards issuing a full response to the report in the Spring.

Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, to publish the current membership of the Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish the dates on which the Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel has met since its establishment.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish the minutes of each of the Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel’s meetings up to 26 January 2022.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will publish the external organisations invited to attend meetings of the Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel since its establishment.

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel has submitted its conclusions to her Department as of 26 January 2022.

Julia Lopez: The Public Service Broadcasting Advisory Panel was established in November 2020 in order to provide independent expertise and advice for the government’s strategic review of public service broadcasting.The current membership and terms of reference of the Panel are available from GOV.UK.Since its establishment, the Panel has met six times, on the following dates: (i) 19 November 2020; (ii) 14 January 2021; (iii) 24 March 2021; (iv) 18 May 2021; (v) 21 July 2021; and (vi) 24 November 2021. It is not expected to meet further.A number of potential conclusions were discussed at each meeting and reviewed at the Panel’s sixth and final meeting on 24 November 2021.The only external organisation invited to attend a meeting of the Panel was Ofcom, on 21 July 2021. In addition, Panel members were given the opportunity to attend an informal session with Ofcom on 2 March 2021.In accordance with the Panel’s published terms of reference, the government does not intend to publish the minutes or conclusions of the Panel. The Government will set out the conclusions of its strategic review of public service broadcasting in due course.

BBC: Finance

Owen Thompson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her announcement on 17 January 2022 that BBC funding will be frozen for the next two years, whether she will take steps to protect funding for programming in the UK's minority languages.

Julia Lopez: The UK Government has a strong record of demonstrating its commitment to minority language broadcasting to ensure that our broadcasting sector services all audiences of the UK nations and regions.The BBC’s Royal Charter is an important way of delivering on this. One of the BBC's Public Purposes is to "reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions and, in doing so, support the creative economy across the United Kingdom". The BBC also has a general duty under Diversity to "support the regional and minority languages of the United Kingdom through its output and services and through partnerships with other organisations".I recognise the incredibly valuable contribution that our minority language broadcasters make, and the licence fee settlement will continue to support these contributions by providing the BBC with billions in annual public funding, allowing it to deliver its mission and public purposes and to continue doing what it does best.

Women and Equalities

Racial Discrimination

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when the Government plans to publish a response to the Independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities Report.

Kemi Badenoch: We are considering the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ independent report and assessing the next steps for Government policy. The report is a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the drivers of disparities in this country and it is right that we take the appropriate time to carefully consider its findings and 24 recommendations. We will publish our response in due course.

Prime Minister

Animal Welfare: Afghanistan

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Prime Minister, what (a) meetings were had and (b) electronic communications were sent between his Office and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on the evacuation of animals from Pen Farthing's Nowzad animal shelter in Afghanistan.

Mr Ben Wallace: I have been asked to reply. The evacuation from Afghanistan under Op Pitting from 14 August to 29 August was entirely organised and controlled by the Ministry of Defence.